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The Penguin, the upcoming spin-off miniseries by HBO Max set for the continuity of Matt Reeves' The Batman film franchise, has finally received a release date. The upcoming television show will include eight episodes and premiere in 2024. However, no exact date has been provided.
The upcoming show stars Colin Farrell as the title character, reprising his role from 2021's The Batman. Matt Reeves, the director of the film, will serve as an executive producer for the series.
Colin Farrell's performance as The Penguin in The Batman film garnered widespread praise from critics, who commended the actor's ability to bring an air of levity to an otherwise dark and broody film. Also praised was Farrell's ability to disappear into the role completely via the aid of prosthetics and make-up.
The Penguin takes place one week after the events of The Batman
The plot of The Penguin takes place a week after the events chronicled in 2021's The Batman and will see Colin Farrell's Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin rise to power in Gotham City's criminal underworld following the death of his boss, Carmine Falcone, who was essayed by Hollywood veteran John Turturro in the 2021 film.
Farrell, in an interview with ExtraTV, mentioned that since the series starts a week after The Batman, Gotham City is still underwater. The end of the 2021 film saw the city get flooded and submerged underwater as a result of Paul Dano's Riddler's failed attempt to assassinate the current mayor of Gotham City and cause a revolution.
Farrell even mentioned in the interview that he had read the first script of the episode and described how it opened with Penguin's feet splashing through the water in Carmine Falcone's office.
In a separate interview with Collider, Colin Farrell heaped praise on Matt Reeves' vision for The Penguin, claiming that it was "tasty" and "unusual."
"Read the first episode, which is just so tasty and so unusual as the character was on the page and what Matt Reeves kind of envisioned when he was thinking of this iteration of the bang-up of Oz."
Farrell added that The Penguin show will greatly deliver and assured fans that Matt Reeves is hard at work on it, despite him currently working on The Batman Part II, which will hit theaters on October 2025.
Colin Farrell also confirmed in an interview with ScreenRant during the press tour for The Batman that The Penguin would be rated R and would feature more adult and mature themes; it will also see Farrell's Oswald Cobblepot smoking cigars, an aspect of the character that could not be added to the film because of its PG-13 rating.
Matt Reeves, the director of The Batman and The Batman Part II and executive producer of the upcoming series, said in an interview with Collider that the series would tie into the events of the second Batman film and not just be a standalone series:
"There’s actually a whole little fabric of things we’re wanting to do, the way we’re doing with [the] Penguin and how that comes back into… how that will lead into the sequel, and what that sequel is going to be."
He also said that there were other exciting things that were planned for his Batman universe and that he was very passionate about it.
The first three episodes of the series will be directed by Craig Zobel of Mare of Easttown.
Meet the cast of The Penguin
As for the cast of the upcoming series, Colin Farrell stars as Oswald Cobblepot, aka Penguin, reprising his role in The Batman. He played Carmine Falcone's former lieutenant in the movie, who was assassinated by Riddler in the third act.
Joining Farrell in the series will be Clancy Brown, who will portray Salvatore "Sal" Maroni, who in the comics is notorious for being instrumental in the transformation of Harvey Dent into Two-Face, by being the person who throws acid onto his face during a court trial. Sal Maroni was briefly mentioned in The Batman.
Other cast members of The Penguin include Cristin Miloti of Palm Springs as Sofia Falcone, a prominent character in the Batman Mythos and daughter of Carmine Falcone. Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Carmen Ejogo, David H. Holmes, and Francois Chau.
It remains to be seen whether or not Robert Pattinson will appear in any capacity as Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Penguin, though it would certainly be a delight for fans if he does.
The Penguin series will be produced by 6th & Idaho, DC Studios, and Dylan Clark Productions, all in association with Warner Bros. Television Studios. Lauren LeFranc serves as the writer and showrunner of the series.
