Gotham seems about ready to abandon pretense of staying pre-Batman, but that shouldn’t necessarily diminish Season 3. Read for yourself, as the first official synopsis discloses not only the arrival of a young Mad Hatter, but also the creepy reasoning behind our aged-up Poison Ivy.

Ahead of its TCA press tour day, FOX released the official Gotham Season 3 synopsis, as Jim Gordon strikes out on his own to deal with the monsters unleashed from Indian Hill last year. Hugo Strange is apparently still at large, while the Court of Owls makes its presence known, and more recognizable Bat-baddies wait in the wings (get it?!):

GOTHAM (Mondays, 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) The origin story continues on Season Three of GOTHAM, and the stakes are higher than ever, as Super-Villains more ambitious and depraved are introduced, and a realignment of alliances shakes up the fight for power in Gotham City.

Season Three will peel back the curtain on the infamous criminal organization known as the Court of The Owls. With the Indian Hill escapees on the loose, JIM GORDON (Ben McKenzie) must take matters into his own hands as a bounty hunter in Gotham. He makes it his mission to find HUGO STRANGE (guest star BD Wong), the mastermind behind the horrifying Indian Hill experiments, and FISH MOONEY (guest star Jada Pinkett Smith), one of Strange’s subjects. Meanwhile, GCPD Detective HARVEY BULLOCK (Donal Logue) and Captain NATHANIEL BARNES (Michael Chiklis) remain at the forefront of the fight against crime in the monster-ridden city. Also, BRUCE WAYNE (David Mazouz), with the help of his trusted butler and mentor, ALFRED PENNYWORTH (Sean Pertwee), and former Wayne Enterprises employee, LUCIUS FOX (Chris Chalk), discovers there are still more secrets to uncover regarding his parents’ murders.

As the city sinks deeper into chaos, GOTHAM will continue to follow the evolving stories of the city’s most malevolent villains: THE PENGUIN (Robin Lord Taylor); EDWARD NYGMA/the future RIDDLER (Cory Michael Smith); SELINA KYLE/the future CATWOMAN (Camren Bicondova); BARBARA KEAN (Erin Richards), TABITHA GALAVAN/TIGRESS (Jessica Lucas) and BUTCH GILZEAN (Drew Powell). The series also will catch up with the future POISON IVY (Maggie Geha), who, after an encounter with a monster from Indian Hill, finds herself reborn as a young woman who’s harnessed the full power of her charms; and will dive into the origin stories of JERVIS TETCH/MAD HATTER (Benedict Samuel), a talented hypnotist teetering on the edge of madness; and the TWEED BROTHERS.

So far, Season 3 will also introduce us to Walking Dead star Benedict Samuel as Gotham’s take on the Mad Hatter, plus the Tweedle brothers, the Court of Owls, Maggie Geha’s questionably aged-up Poison Ivy, Jamie Chung’s Valerie Vale, a returning Fish Mooney and other monsters, along with a more true-to-comics Solomon Grundy than Arrow offered. Lest we forget, a certain laughing madman made a distinctly audible return in the Season 2 finale, and will likely resurface as well.

We’ll learn more of Gotham Season 3 in the coming weeks, but what do we make of the latest look? Check out the first trailers below.

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