Deleted scenes

Deleted Scenes are filmed segments of a television episode which were removed from the final product for any of a number of various creative reasons. Whatever that reason, the scene was good enough to advance from the writers to the actors to the cameras. Among the most common reasons for a scene to be deleted are time constraints (a scene could make the episode run too long) and narrative pace (a scene could slow down action of the story). In both instances, whole scenes as initially scripted could be taken out, or scenes could be shortened without being entirely removed, in which case the sometimes used expression "trimmed scene" is the more applicable one.

A deleted scene could also be replaced with another scene, in which case the scene deleted becomes an "alternate scene." A scene may also be merely trimmed down, again either for time or pace. In this latter scenario, the full version of the scene is known as an "extended scene."

At many times, these scenes give a more detailed exposition of a plot point and since they provide additional plot points or exposition, deleted scenes are usually considered canon, unless they are contradicted in the published scenes of an episode.

Some of the deleted scenes are eventually made available to the public by adding them as special features for home video releases. The following is a list of the known scenes removed or entirely replaced from episodes of Gotham.

Season 1

• Penguin's Umbrella
  • After getting off a bus, Barbara Kean asks the driver when the next one back to Gotham departs.
  • As soon as he wakes up in a hospital bed, James Gordon notices a young doctor sitting next to him that tells him he just had a bad dream, since he fantasizes because of his injuries and now has to sleep. After Gordon thanked her, the women eventually transforms into the Penguin, who tells him that this is what friends are for. Afterwards, Jim wakes up for real at home with his injuries still causing pain.

Season 2

• None listed as of yet.

Season 3

• Mad City: Ghosts
  • During the early morning hours, Tarquin Stemmel entered the Van Dahl Mansion searching for Oswald Cobblepot and eventually found him sitting in front of the fireplace. After Stemmel remarked that he let himself in because nobody opened him after knocking, Cobblepot told his chief of staff that someone was looking into the Gotham Cemetery. Stemmel responded by telling the mayor the GCPD has people investigating, but on a brighter note he managed to get a look at some of the questions Margaret Hearst will be asking tomorrow. However, Oswald interrupted him by revealing that he misses Edward Nygma and even though Tarquin said that he does miss him too, they are only 24 hours away from the biggest interview of Cobblepot's life and need to focuse on his message to the Gotham people. Still ignoring Stemmel's explanations, Oswald asked him if he believes in ghosts, what Tarquin confirmed hesitantly. Afterwards, the mayor moved on by asking what he did mean yesterday when he said "Those we love never really leave us", leading to Stemmel embarrassed replying he guesses "figure of speech". While asking the mayor if he would care for some coffee, he received a phone call and remarks a big day is waiting tomorrow towards Oswald before leaving the living room. Suspiciously, Cobblepot secretly followed his chief of staff to the floor, hearing that Tarquin confirmed someone that the mayor is at home but it is not a good time at the moment.
• Mad City: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
  • Originally, Jerome Valeska was going to be beheaded in an alternate ending for this episode, killing him off for real this time. According to Cameron Monaghan, the producers ultimately decided that Jerome survives this confrontation, allowing it to be open-ended in order to involve the character further in the Joker mythos. It is unknown if this alternate scene was actually filmed and later replaced. Even though this ending is non-canon and Jerome was locked up in Arkham Asylum at the end of the episode, he actually died a second and final time in A Dark Knight: That's Entertainment, meaning the writer only deferred his death until late Season 4.
• Heroes Rise: How the Riddler Got His Name
  • In the Van Dahl Manor, Edward Nygma sat at the table and read the latest issue of the Gotham Gazette reporting about the disappearance of mayor Oswald Cobblepot and the death of Professor Dyson. Suddenly, Tabitha Galavan used her whip to lash the newspaper out of Nygma's hands. After he remarked that he was reading that, Barbara Kean, who also stood in front of Ed said that they were just trying to get his attention, remarking that it hasn't been so easy to get it from him lately. When Nygma told them he has been busy, Barbara answered that she would say she and Tabitha have been busy organizing the shambles of a post-Penguin underworld, stating it is an enterprise in which Ed agreed to help. However, Nygma then explained that Cobblepot is missing and that the underworld knows what that means so they have already moved on, but he needs to be the public face of grief for the rest of Gotham, since they still view him as Penguin's friend. Moreover, he told Barbara and Tabitha that he still has to direct the running of this city and that there are many voices clamoring in his ear. He then finished it up by saying that he will help them when he can before reaching for a tin lying on the table, opening it to take some of the pills in it. However, Barbara took it out of his hands, asking if these drugs are the reason he is so distracted. When Ed revealed that he had trouble sleeping, she explained that the drugs do that. Afterwards, Nygma said that he cannot let insomnia derail his day and that those drugs help him focus. Thereupon, Tabitha stated that he is wasting their time and asked him if he does not feel guilty for shooting Oswald and pushing him in the river, but Edward simply changed the topic, asking Tabitha how her hand is, alluding to the fact that he just cut it off a few days before. While provocatively leaning on the table, Galavan told him that it still hurts, but that she is hoping it will feel better soon. Thereafter, Nygma stated that guilt is a useless emotion and if they can't control the gangs without him, then perhaps they shouldn't be running things. Afterwards, he repeated that he will help them when he can. She then ordered him that he shouldn't take too long, before slamming the tin full of pills back on the table, advising him to be careful with those, since she herself saw some crazy things when she took them. Immediately after Barbara and Tabitha left the room, Ed quickly opened the pill case.
    • This scene was most likely deleted very late during post-production, since three still images from it were released as promotional photos to promote Heroes Rise: How the Riddler Got His Name. Even though the scene was removed from the final cut of the episode, a few glimpses of it still remain intact in the released episode (a close-up of Nygma holding the newspaper and one of him opening the tin with pills), meaning this deleted scene takes place in between the scene in which Ed takes a pill and is haunted by a vision of Penguin for the first time. This extended scene was eventually included as a bonus feature on the DVD and Bluray box set Gotham: The Complete Third Season.
• Heroes Rise: Heavydirtysoul
  • Barbara was originally going to be revived in one of the Lazarus Pits by Ra's al Ghul. The scene in the Yuyan Temple was filmed, but later deleted. It is not included on any of the DVD and Blu-ray sets and only survives via two promotional photos. This deleted scene was later rendered obsolete and entirely non-canon when a flashback featured in the episode "A Dark Knight: One of My Three Soups" included a different version of Barbara's resurrection.

Season 4

• A Dark Knight: They Who Hide Behind Masks
  • A preview trailer for Season 4 showed an alternate version of the scene in which Penguin and Victor Zsasz realize the Riddler was unfrozen and taken from the Iceberg Lounge.
• A Dark Knight: Hog Day Afternoon
  • This scene would have taken place shortly before Sofia Falcone and Penguin arrived at the Falcone Home and School for Orphans. On the backseat of his limousine, Oswald tells Sofia that he always thinks the best of people, whereon she replies that he can trust her. However, Penguin then tells her that this is what all the other people who had betrayed him in the past had also told him right before he killed them.
• A Dark Knight: Queen Takes Knight
  • An additional scene involving Gordon and Vanessa Harper investigating the murder of two Falcone goons was deleted.
• A Dark Knight: A Beautiful Darkness
  • A preview trailer for the second half of Season 4 featured a slightly different version of the scene in which Jerome gets beaten up by Penguin.
• A Dark Knight: The Sinking Ship, The Grand Applause
  • The "See Your Own Darkness" trailer for Season 4B included an alternate take of the scene in which Oswald is trying to decide if he should either save Ed or hunt down Sofia Falcone. Moreover, the sequence was also mirrored for the preview trailer.
• A Dark Knight: No Man's Land
  • During the end scene montage that introduced the new villains of Gotham, three terrified thugs run through an alley in Gotham Chinatown, wildly pointing their guns around. Then Lady Shiva, a dark figure with a samurai sword falls into the middle of them. She swings her sword three times and the thugs fall down.
    • This scene is only featured in the original script for this episode and was meant to tease Lady Shiva's introduction in Season 5. It is unknown if this scene was actually filmed and later deleted, but it is possible as well that this scene was only planned and that the leaked script was simply an early draft.

Season 5

• Legend of the Dark Knight: Year Zero
  • The scene in which Jim investigates the room where the Self-perpetuating Generator is stored was originally going to be longer. Gordon would have discovered Lucius Fox in the room who was just sprayed with Fear gas by Scarecrow during his attack on the GCPD. This extended scene was included as a bonus feature on the DVD and Blu-ray box set Gotham: The Complete Fifth Season.
• Legend of the Dark Knight: Nothing's Shocking
  • Jim Gordon and Barbara Kean exchange words in the aftermath of Jane Doe's death. Barbara mentions her memory of Jim and Barbara's first meeting. Barbara calls Jim's actions into question.
• Legend of the Dark Knight: They Did What?
  • Apparently, Nyssa al Ghul was originally going to die in a deleted scene. A scene featuring Oswald and Edward was included on the DVD and Blu-ray sets: After escaping from the army, Penguin and Riddler arrive back at the harbor in order to get the treasure from their submarine. However, they then see a giant explosion on the water in the distance, indicating that the submarine somehow exploded and sank. Oswald and Nygma were then originally able to recover their treasure from the bottom of the Gotham River, as revealed in an additional deleted scene from the home video release: In this scene set during the celebrations at Gotham City Hall, Cobblepot and Riddler secretly discuss how they are going to use the money to buy up judges in order to rebuilt their power over Gotham's underworld.
    • This storyline was entirely deleted and replaced with an alternate scene for the final aired episode. In this scene set at the Gotham City Public Library, Penguin and Riddler rant about the fact that Nyssa was able to escape with the submarine and their treasure.
• Legend of the Dark Knight: The Beginning...
  • The scene in which Edward Nygma escapes from Arkham Asylum was originally meant to be longer. The extended scene would have shown the Riddler emotionally putting on his iconic bowler hat for the first time after ten years. It also revealed that Aubrey James was already kidnapped by Ecco and her crew, as the tied up mayor was sitting in the box standing in front of Nygma. Aubrey James reacts horrified after realizing he is in Nygma's power once again.
  • Francesca Root-Dodson posted a photo from the filming of "The Beginning..." on Instagram that hints at a deleted scene featuring Ecco and Jeremiah Valeska. The photo shows both characters in loving pose at Jeremiah's Arkham cell and might have been an extended version of the scene in which Jeremiah finally "awakes" at Arkham, which ended with him choking Ecco in the aired version. This behind-the-scenes photo would indicate that the scene was originally going to to be longer.
  • After escaping from the prison transporter, Penguin and Riddler meet a Gotham citizen going for a walk who is wearing a bowler hat and holding an umbrella. They then attack the helpless man in order to steal his hat and umbrella. This would have explained how Nygma and Oswald had these items once again in the following scene, while they did not have them during their scene on the Blackgate transporter. (This scene was included as a bonus feature for the Season 5 DVD and Blu-ray set.)