Michael Chiklis on 'Gotham': Gordon is on a Path 'to Hell'

“When cops and robbers meets the comic book world? Yeah, let’s get Chiklis over here.” That’s the way Michael Chiklis — who played icons of both genres in The Shield and Fantastic Four — explains how he got cast on Gotham. And the results have been like a Cinderella story: “My foot fit in the slipper really well.”

Now that the GCPD has suffered a serious blow — the “Rise of the Villains” laid waste to police headquarters — Captain Nathaniel Barnes is “the cavalry that’s going to push back,” says Chiklis. Barnes is a tough, by-the-book guy —someone who believes “law is the only thing that separates us from the animals.” He takes Gordon under his wing because he “sees him as the hope and future of this police department.”

At the same time though, he’s worried about Gordon spiraling into an “ends-justifies-the-means law enforcement,” and judging from the number of crooks Jim’s been throwing through windows, that concern seems justified. “He’s trying to pull him off of that path because he knows that’s the way to Hell. It’s making for some really good stuff because this whole thing is bubbling up into a war.”

Chiklis describes the character as a “Bull in a bull ring — not a bull in a china shop. He comes in horns out,” and that makes his face-offs with co-star Ben McKenzie “juicy.” Barnes comes in with a history of dealing with Gotham’s style of lax ethics and that friction “gives me and Ben really great stuff to do together.” His rapport with McKenzie is new, but he’s old friends with Donal Logue — who he worked with on The Commish — and Sean Pertwee, who co-starred in Soldier with him back in 1998. “Cory [Michael Smith] is great,” he says, “I haven’t got to work with Robin [Lord Taylor] yet, but I’m really looking forward to butting heads with that kid.” He calls McKenzie a class act and says his welcoming attitude makes him feel “really comfortable and at home” on the Gotham set.

Not too comfortable, though. “My ribs are killing me!” he says with a laugh. “We did some crazy s–t this week. I’m kinda beaten up. The action sequences we just did over the last three days were just kick ass!”

Gotham airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.