Last Updated on January 18, 2023 by Lil Ginge
If you’re excited about the upcoming Penguin series for HBO Max, you and I are not the only ones. Recently, Colin Farrell, who is reprising his role from The Batman as Oz “The Penguin” Cobblepot, recently shared some thoughts on the upcoming series.
Farrell on The Penguin HBO Max Series
Farrell, who arguably gives the best performance in The Batman, recently spoke with Variety at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. He said that when he originally took the role of The Penguin in the film, he had no idea that a spinoff series was possible. But Farrell knew he wanted to go deeper into the layers and complexity of the penguin beyond what we saw in The Batman.
The Batman featured less than ten scenes with The Penguin. So, Farrell knew there was much more terrain to explore with the character. He expressed gratitude for those ten scenes but knew he craved more.
Penguin’s Extraordinary Makeup
Farrell also agrees with the rest of the world that the makeup and prosthetics he wears as Oz are remarkable. He wanted to see more of this work done with the character. As well as further his collaboration with prosthetics artist Mike Moreno, and with key prosthetics artist Mike Fontaine and his team.
Farrell says:
The only thing I had an idea was that I wasn’t nearly getting to explore the character as much as I wanted to. There was all this extraordinary work done by [prosthetics artist Mike Moreno] and Mike Fontaine, his team… I just thought it was the tip of the iceberg, pardon the pun, that we were getting to do the six of seven scenes that we did in the film. I was grateful for them, but I wanted more.
– Farrell on The Penguin’s makeup and prosthetics
On the idea for the HBO Max series itself, Farrell added:
I had a bit of a thought about it and I talked to [The Batman producer] Dylan Clark and [he] had a similar thought…” “And it was really, honest to God, any thoughts I had about an extended series was to do with Mike Moreno’s work. I just think there’s so much you can do with it. Age it up, age it down. He’s just such a genius, Mike. So it was his work that was just an inspiration, really.
– Farrell on the idea for The Penguin series
About The Penguin Series for HBO Max
The Penguin series will be a standalone show set in the Matt Reeves Batman universe. It will debut on Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service HBO Max and begins filming in February 2023.
According to HBO Max Head of Originals Sarah Aubrey:
Penguin will sit immediately after the end of The Batman and temporally before the events of the second movie. The show will come out in between the two movies. Now beyond that, it’s fun for the audience to know that it will be a bridge between the two, but the actual release date, I’m not at liberty to say.
– Sarah Aubrey on the timeliene of Reevesverse Batman franchise
Beyond this, we do not yet know any plot details about the series. Cristin Miloti will star as Sofia Falcone, the daughter of the late Gotham mob boss Carmine Falcone. DC Comics introduced the character of Sofia Falcone in the mid-1990s. Crystal Reed played the role in the Fox series Gotham.
In terms of the lead producers and creatives behind the series, the showrunner and writer is Lauren LeFranc. Craig Zobel is directing the first two episodes. Dylan Clark, Matt Reeves, Colin Farrell, Lauren LeFranc, Daniel Pipski, Adam Kassan, and Raif Crohn are executive producers. 6th & Idaho, DC Entertainment, Dylan Clark Productions, and Warner Bros. Television are jointly producing the series.
Colin Farrell signed on to star in the series in December 2021. Then, HBO Max officially ordered the show to series in March 2022.
Beyond The Penguin Series
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Reevesverse, Antonio Campos is writing another spinoff series about Arkham Asylum. Also, a third series, based on the Gotham City police department, is currently in development at Warner Bros.
There is no word yet on whether The Penguin will return for The Batman sequel. But considering the success of the first film and the hype behind the new Penguin series, it’s a good bet that Oz Penguin Cobblepot will have a significant part to play in The Batman 2.
If you enjoyed this article on The Penguin series for HBO Max, check out my recent article, “Who Could Play Robin in The Batman Sequel.”
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