As Gotham looks to banish the memory of Das Arnold’s pun-tastic Mr. Freeze, the FOX show has released the first look at the series’ soon-to-debut version of the character.

USA Today had the scoop on the pictures, and Nathan Darrow, who has taken on the Victor Fries role in Gotham, told the outlet, “Victor has one central intimate human connection, and that’s with his wife. There’s something really, really interesting and vulnerable and difficult about that. Of course, that is threatened by her illness. In some of the research I did on the character as he has evolved in the comic book, he has a more tenuous connection with humanity and his own humanity, and she’s it. He is applying all his talents and skills and energies to maintaining that.”

He added, “He’s pretty focused on what he’s doing. He is on a very special, independent project. I feel like he does go to work each day, but I think he gets time to work from home and it feels like his bosses are OK with that because he’s specially talented and he’s working on something that could be potentially of great value for who he works for. So he’s pretty much involved in this pursuit and it’s solitary, as you might imagine.”

When asked on what we can expect to see from Fries’ famed Freeze Gun, Darrow teased, “I will tell you we’re going to see Mr. Freeze do some things we have never seen him do.”

Coincidentally, the House of Cards actor also revealed that he’s never actually seen Batman & Robin, meaning he missed out on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s much-maligned take on the rogue.

Anyway, time to get to those pictures that we mentioned:

 

Looks pretty impressive, no? The look of the character is certainly pulled more from the comic book version of the character rather than Arnold’s.

After debuting way back in 1959 (initially as Mr. Zero), Mr. Freeze spent the majority of the next several decades as a C-level villain who was often a character of ridicule and mockery amongst fans. Then came the fantastic Batman: The Animated Series, which made the rogue extremely relevant, poignant, and extenuated the tragic element of the villain.

Gotham’s second season is already airing in the US, but UK audiences will have to wait until February to see Season 2 arrive on Channel 5.