'Gotham' season 3 spoilers, news: Gotham City's naughty list hits social media with #12DaysOfVillains

Santa's list gets extra longer this year as "Gotham" pitches in its own band of naughties.

Starting things off with fan favorite Jerome (Cameron Monaghan) on Dec. 14, the show's official Facebook and Twitter accounts have been counting down the days leading to Christmas with daily posts featuring some of Gotham's most notorious troublemakers.

But is the #12DaysOfVillains simply a holiday treat to tide fans over before "Gotham" returns next year? Or are these 12 posts and their wittily reworded Christmas-song captions meant to leave a trail of clues as to what's coming next to Batman's beloved city? Will these villains each make an appearance in season 3's back half?

The trailer for the next episode confirms that at least one of them will indeed return to wage more havoc in Gotham. There have even been speculations that he may finally answer the question in a lot of people's minds: will Jerome eventually become The Joker, Batman's number 1 archenemy?

Monaghan has recently tweeted an image of himself seemingly dressed up in full-on Joker mode. The tweet was unfortunately deleted right away, but a source has fortunately taken a snapshot of the post and reposted it. The image showed Monaghan's character, Jerome, in garish makeup and what looked like a purple vest that are both identifiable trademarks of The Joker.

Jerome's upcoming return also coincides with a statement made by executive producer John Stephens in an earlier interview with TV Guide. Stephens shared that the show will be delving more deeply into the Joker mythos in the latter part of "Gotham" season 3 in a storyline that could extend well into season 4.

"You will see these different versions of the Joker myth that develop next year with Jerome and with other characters," Stephens added. "[Then] we can put those pieces together and go, 'Oh,' eventually, 'that's where the Joker himself came from."

Is Jerome really The Joker, or will Batman's nemesis be someone who emerges from his cult followers?

"Gotham" season 3 will return on Monday, Jan. 16, 2017, at 8 p.m. EST on FOX.