- The Penguin is an upcoming Max series set after the events of the 2022 movie The Batman.
- Colin Farrell is reprising his role as the Penguin.
- The Penguin has released its first teaser.
You haven’t seen the last of The Penguin in Gotham. In fact, he’s just getting started. Colin Farrell is stepping back into the role of Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot for the upcoming Max miniseries, which is a spinoff to 2022’s The Batman starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader. The Penguin has already begun filming, with Colin undergoing a physical transformation to play the Batman villain. The first teaser was released on April 12 and set the stage for what’s to come.
“This is one of those moments. You gotta ask yourself, what kind of life do I want?” Penguin asks in the trailer. “The world ain’t built for guys like us. That’s why we gotta take whatever we decide is ours.”
In The Batman, the Penguin is introduced as the right-hand man to Gotham crime lord Carmine Falcone (John Torturro). The Max series is expected to take place after the film and will cover Penguin’s rise to power in Gotham. Here’s everything we know so far about The Penguin, including the release date, the cast, and more.
The Penguin Release Date
Max has not announced the release date for The Penguin, but it will premiere in 2024. Filming began on March 1, 2023, in New York City, and is expected to last until the summer. It’ll definitely come out before The Batman — Part II, the sequel to Matt Reeves‘s movie, which has a theatrical release date set for October 3, 2025.
The Penguin Cast
Of course, Colin Farrell is returning as the titular villain in The Penguin. The actor underwent a major transformation for the role in The Batman, donning a fat suit and prosthetics. He’s doing the same for the Max show, with the help of makeup artists Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine who he praised in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife. “I just sit in the chair and let Mike Marino work his genius,” Colin said of “becoming” The Penguin at the National Board of Review Awards in NYC in January. “That was it!” he added.
Colin will star opposite Cristin Milioti, who is playing Sofia Falcone, Carmine Falcone’s daughter. According to Deadline, Sofia “is fighting with The Penguin for control” of Gotham in the show. Sofia was previously portrayed by Crystal Reed in the Gotham TV series.
Clancy Brown will play Salvatore Maroni, a Gotham City mob boss. Salvatore is another Batman enemy. The character was played by Dennis Paladino in Batman Forever, Eric Roberts in The Dark Knight, and David Zayas in Gotham. Rounding out The Penguin cast is Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Clancy Brown. and Deidre O’Connell, who have all been cast in undisclosed roles.
The Penguin Plot Details
The Penguin is obviously going to be all about Oswald Cobblepot. Colin previously confirmed that the show is going to take place about one week after the events of The Batman, which ended with Riddler (Paul Dano) flooding Gotham.
The first footage in the teaser reveals a first look at the characters played by Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, and more. Penguin isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. In the final moments of the teaser, he laughs after shooting someone. “The new kingpin of Gotham,” he declares.
“It starts about a week after The Batman ends,” Colin told Extra. “So, Gotham is still, somewhat, underwater. I read the first script of the first episode and it opens up on my feet splashing through the water in Falcone’s office. Even that alone, when I read it, I was like, ‘Oh, Jesus!’ ” Colin also said about the show, “It’s lovely. It’s so well-written. Lauren LeFranc has done such an extraordinary job, and she’s writing the whole thing and show-running. She is formidable. It’s just an exciting prospect. I love that character. I was greedy with it. I felt like I didn’t have enough. I wanted to do it more and more and more.”
In an interview with Collider, Colin said the script for the first episode was “so tasty and so unusual.” Colin also revealed that The Penguin is going to be around “six or eight hours” long. HollywoodLife will continue to share updates on The Penguin right here!