Was Gotham's version of Baby Oswald sent up the river as well?
During the Warner Bros.' Television Takeover panel at the 2015 New York Comic-Con, Gotham actor Robin Lord Taylor, who plays The Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot, revealed that Paul Reubens will be reprising his Batman Returns role as the Penguin's father in an upcoming episode of the Fox series. Carol Kane currently plays The Penguin's mother, Gertrude Kabelput.
"We just found out that I do have a father and he will be showing up very soon," said Taylor, "and he will be played by none other than Paul Reubens! Pee-wee Herman is playing my dad! What the hell! Oh, my god!"
Reubens, 63, is best known, of course, for his character Pee-Wee Herman, and has appeared in a number of notable films including The Blues Brothers, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, Nice Dreams, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Big Top Pee-Wee, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mystery Men, and Reno 911!: Miami. In addition to his Pee-Wee's Playhouse series, Reubens has also appeared on episodes of Mork & Mindy, Murphy Brown, Reno 911!, 30 Rock, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, Batman: The Brave and the Bold (as Bat-Mite), Tron: Uprising, The Blacklist, and Star Wars: Rebels.
In the 1992 Tim Burton film Batman Returns, Reubens played Tucker Cobblepot, part of a wealthy family that had almost as much money as the Wayne family. His first son was Oswald, who was treated poorly on account of his deformity. Tucker and his wife Esther (Diane Salinger) had trouble accepting him, and they did not believe Gotham's high society would approve of Oswald. Oswald's abuse of the family cat confirmed Tucker's belief that Oswald had the mannerisms of an untrained animal, and got rid of him by pushing his baby carriage into a river. The carriage proceeded to float into the Arctic World exhibit of the Gotham Zoo, where Oswald was carried off by huge emperor penguins. Tucker, along with his wife, had died by the time the adult Oswald began his assault on Gotham City, presumably of old age or natural causes. Oswald made a public show of placing roses on Tucker and Esther's graves in order to show he had forgiven his parents.
Gotham airs Mondays on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EST.