Shane West’s role on Gotham is a dream come true.
West sat down with E! News to talk playing Bane, also/currently known as Eduardo Dorrance, and he said playing a comic book villain is “absolutely” on his bucket list.
“It couldn’t have gone better in the sense of if you were writing out a bucket list, it was almost to the T specifically what I would have added,” he said. “Batman was one of my favorite comic books growing up, so this was kind of a no-brainer. Bane happens to be my favorite DC villain, and I knew some people involved with Gotham and I enjoyed the show, and it was kind of a dream come true.”
We’ve only seen West in one episode of Gotham so far, but in tonight’s episode (at least according to the promo), Dorrance gets his iconic Bane mask as Gordon (Ben McKenzie) puts a team together to stop him. West says his version of Bane is a bit new, but inspired by former versions of the character.
“I was fortunate that this isn’t a character that’s been done, at least live action, a million times. Really, I would be the third,” he says, reminding us of Batman & Robin and most recently, Tom Hardy. “So for me, I kind of wanted to take a little bit from Tom Hardy’s performance—I really loved what he did in Dark Knight Rises—and then a lot from Batman: The Animated Series. I really loved how the voice actor how he was able to bring life to the character on that series.”
West says he also naturally had to do his own thing, with some editing help.
“I had to use my own voice. We also know they were going to—as you’ll see, as the episodes come out that they distort my own voice voice anyway,” he says. “But you gotta make it your own and for me, I had my own ideas and then I just kinda spliced it in with a couple of other interesting perspectives.”
Tonight’s episode also finds Barbara (Erin Richards) revealing some big news to Gordon while Selina (Camren Bicondova) teams up with Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) to fight new villain Magpie (Sarah Schenkkan).
For more from West on developing the character and how he got into shape, hit play on the video above!
Gotham airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Fox.