One of Gotham City’s power couples will have a role to play in The CW’s newest DC series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, real-life spouses Ethan Embry and Sunny Mabrey have joined the cast of Gotham Knights. In a case of art imitating life, they will star as the fictional husband-and-wife duo of Arthur and Crystal Brown. But based on early details, it sounds like their onscreen marriage won’t be a very happy one.
Comic book fans might recognize Arthur Brown as the real name of C-list Batman villain Cluemaster. He is also the father of Stephanie Brown/Spoiler, who will be played by Anna Lore on Gotham Knights. However, given the show’s loose relationship with established DC lore it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the creators have their own unique plans for Embry’s character and his wife.
“We were blown away by Sunny’s audition for Gotham Knights,” said executive producers Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux and Natalie Abrams in a new statement. “It was immediately clear she had the expansive emotional range needed to play this deeply polarizing character. And then we were delighted to discover that Sunny’s husband is an actor who has many fans among our cast, crew and writers. Ethan’s brought Arthur to life in such rich, delightfully disturbing ways. We hope to surprise fans of the mythos with where our story is going, though we’ll give you a clue … Quiz Bowl airs weeknights in Gotham.”
That’s right—in this incarnation, Arthur Brown will appear as the “meticulous and eccentric” host of a popular game show. His breakdown describes him as “charming and perfectly coiffed,” with an intelligence that’s only matched by his daughter, Stephanie. But beneath his foppish exterior, he hides a dark side.
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Similarly, Crystal Brown is “elegant and eye-catching” in public. But in private, she can be “warm as sunshine one minute, and brutally ice cold the next.” This is largely due to her struggles with a secret addiction that threatens to destroy her family and its reputation. Mabrey will make her first appearance in Gotham Knights‘ fifth episode, while Embry’s character will be introduced in episode 6.
Embry’s acting career dates back to the early ‘90s and includes memorable roles in films such as Empire Records, That Thing You Do!, and Can’t Hardly Wait. More recently, he was a series regular on Grace and Frankie, which ended its seven-season run on Netflix last year. Funnily enough, Gotham Knights isn’t Embry’s first trip to the DC Universe. He previously lent his voice to two episodes of Batman Beyond in the early 2000s. He also appeared as Johnny Thunder in Stargirl season 2.
Mabrey, on the other hand, is known for her appearances in Species III, XXX: State of the Union, and Snakes on a Plane. Her last film, Hillbilly Elegy, premiered on Netflix in 2020. She also guest-starred in a recent episode of Cobra Kai.
Gotham Knights will premiere on The CW on March 14.
Are you excited to see what Embrey and Mabrey bring to the series? Let us know in the comment section below!
Photo Credit: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images
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