Gotham casts its young Riddler, for whom the greatest riddle is friendship

The world of Fox’s Gotham continues to get a little smaller and with slimmer hips, as the Batman prequel series has now added a young Riddler to its proto-rogues’ gallery. Cory Michael Smith—who, as the co-star of Camp X-Ray, confronts the puzzle that is Kristen Stewart’s facial expression—has joined the cast as Edward Nygma, the villain doomed by his parents to have something to do with mysteries, lest his name be an utter waste. In this, the primordial archetype soup of Gotham, Edward is described as a “brilliant young forensic scientist. Inquisitive and eccentric, and outgoing but socially awkward, he wants to be liked—but doesn’t quite know how.” So, he begins constructing a persona based around constantly pestering people with riddles. Everyone enjoys riddles! And when the Riddler says, “Riddle me this,” what he’s really saying is, “Love me.”