Batgirl will give Jim Gordon a more "significant" role than Justice League, says J.K. Simmons

News
By published

"I thought [the script] was a really interesting take"

J.K. Simmons in Justice League
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

J.K. Simmons has spoken about his role as Jim Gordon in the upcoming Batgirl movie – and teased a more "significant" part for the character.

"I was completely flabbergasted they came back to me recently and wanted me to be Commissioner Gordon again and have it be a more significant role," Simmons told the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "I thought [the script] was a really interesting take on introducing Batgirl, and giving Jim Gordon – fleshing him out, certainly more than I had a chance to do in my first foray into that."

Commissioner Jim Gordon is the father of Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl, who will be played by In the Heights' Leslie Grace in the new movie. Brendan Fraser will play the movie's villain. Batgirl will be co-directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah from a script by Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson. Simmons also revealed that filming is due to start soon in Glasgow – he said he'll be joining the set in January.

Simmons first portrayed Jim Gordon in 2017's Justice League, although he did not have much of a role in the movie. We saw more of his character in Zack Snyder's Justice League, but his screen time was still fairly limited.

The character has appeared on the big screen many times – Gary Oldman played him in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and Jeffrey Wright will take on the role in the upcoming The Batman – but this will be the first time that the father/daughter relationship between Jim and Barbara is explored in a live-action movie.  

While we wait for Batgirl to swoop onto the big screen, make sure you're up to date with the DCEU with our guide to watching the DC movies in order.

Emily Garbutt
Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related. I help bring you all the latest news, features, and reviews, as well as helming our Big Screen Spotlight column. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.