Shane West Almost Played Mr. Freeze On ‘Gotham’ Instead Of Bane

Shane West’s Eduardo Dorrance made his debut on the most recent episode of Gotham as a commander of Delta Force and an old friend of Ben McKenzie’s Jim Gordon. While we know that West will ultimately become Bane, it turns out that he briefly skirted around the idea of playing another Gotham villain: Mr. Freeze.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Shane West revealed that he already had a working relationship with Gotham executive producer Danny Cannon, based on their prior working together on the series Nikita. While West was cast as Bane, scheduling conflicts prevented him from taking on the role of Mr. Freeze — a role that ended up going to House of Cards and Preacher actor Nathan Darrow:

“There was one. Well, involving Gotham. We had a little bit of a go with Mr. Freeze actually. I was excited about that because obviously another iconic Batman villain and once again, at that point, I had never played anyone yet.​ But I think because I was on Salem and I think the guy who did it was much more right for the role than I was anyway, but I think that it helped things just not working out and then a couple years go by or probably three or four, I’m not even sure of the timeline, but all of the sudden, coming back with something like Bane felt like it was like wow, I think waiting was the right choice.”

While Nathan Darrow’s Mr. Freeze hasn’t made an appearance in the final season of Gotham just yet, we know that Shane West’s Eduardo will soon take the steps that ultimately turn him into Bane. Given how he and Jim are seemingly at odds based on how the most recent episode ended, he could already be headed down that dark path.

Still, though, it’s interesting to think about: could you see Shane West as Mr. Freeze over Nathan Darrow? Or do you prefer him as is on Gotham? More than that, how do you think Gotham will turn Shane West’s character into Bane? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Gotham stars Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, Sean Pertwee, Camren Bicondova, David Mazouz, Anthony Carrigan, Erin Richards, Cory Michael Smith, Robin Lord Taylor, Francesca Root-Dodson, Chris Chalk, Shane West, and Cameron Monaghan.

The series will return on Thursday, February 14 at 8 P.M. on Fox.

Source: ComicBook.com