‘Gotham’ Season 3 Mad Hatter First Look Image Released; Shows Benedict Samuel In Full Costume

The cesspool that is the city of Gotham before Batman is set to get even more crowded with villainous types as the Mad Hatter joins the cast of "Gotham" for the show's third season, with a first look image of Benedict Samuel as the character released.

Entertainment Weekly shared the image, showing Samuel in costume as the Mad Hatter. The character, whose real name is Jervis Tetch, is one of the more psychological of the Caped Crusaders enemies.

The character's history dates back to Batman's earlier days back in the late 40's, originally portrayed as someone more whimsical with a penchant for emulating The Hatter character in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." A gifted scientist and inventor, Jervis Tetch is another example of the Dark Knight's enemies who combine genius-level intellect and scientific brilliance with insanity.

For Tetch, his insanity takes the form of an obsession with hats as well as with the book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and the world contained within. With his deep delusions, Tetch eventually fashioned a persona after The Hatter character; calling himself the Mad Hatter, Tetch employs his technological brilliance in designing mind-altering and mind controlling drugs and technology that he uses to live out his fantasies of living in Wonderland.

Benedict Samuel will be playing the Mad Hatter in the upcoming and third season of Fox' "Gotham." Samuel's most recent and famous appearance in the small screen was in the recently passed season 6 of AMC's "The Walking Dead," where he played the similarly deranged leader of The Wolves.

For "Gotham," Samuel will appear in a main starring role with the season's third episode marking his first appearance. Though no specifics yet exist about how the character will interact with the show's story, Samuel's Mad Hatter might presumably act as one of the recurring antagonistic forces in the season.

Some slight differences will apparently be implemented in the version of the character used in "Gotham." One prominent change is the Mad Hatter's obsession with Alice; whereas the character's previous characterization had him simply obsessed with "finding" Alice, with some of his crimes having him force young women like Barbara Gordon into becoming Alice for him, the show's Jervis Tetch will have a younger sister actually named Alice.

The characterization for Samuel's Mad Hatter indicates that he is "a talented hypnotist teetering on the edge of madness. He arrives in Gotham with an unwavering desire to find his sister, Alice, a young woman who went missing in the city years ago. It is anyone's guess just how far down the rabbit hole he's willing to go in order to find her."

Catch Benedict Samuel as the Mad Hatter when "Gotham" season 3 begins September 19.