The Joker is slated to be introduced in Monday night's episode of Fox's Gotham, with one of the executive producers declaring that this begins his origin story.

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Gotham fans were shocked and delighted to see a potential glimpse of The Joker in the previews for Monday night's episode. A character, played by Shameless star Cameron Monaghan, is seen smiling widely and heard laughing, suggesting that The Joker is upon us.

Gotham executive producer Bruno Heller recently spoke with E! Online about this teaser and asserted that this won't be a bait-and-switch situation.

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"I can tell you this is a long game plan and a long story that we are telling here. What I can promise you is this is not a bait-and-switch. This is not someone who is just a character who is going to disappear. This is not a red herring," Heller revealed.

"It's the beginning of the story of how the Joker came to be, how the Joker was created, where he came from, who he is. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that Cameron Monaghan is the Joker. He might be. But like I say, this is a story that begins about seven or eight years before the actual Joker arrives on the scene in his fully-fledged persona. As we're telling with all of these characters, the origin story of that villain begins Monday."

Monaghan is playing Jerome, who works at the local circus. He is introduced as part of the new Robin storyline. As fans will remember from last week's episode, Dr. Thompkins (Morena Baccarin) wanted to go to the circus with Gordon (Ben McKenzie).

Heller said that Monaghan's performance gave him and his fellow producers "chills" during his audition. It should be interesting to see fans' reactions to this character and this episode, which Heller says is a "standalone."

Gotham airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Watch the promo for the next episode of Gotham here:

Tags: Gotham television fox