Introduced in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Colin Farrell’s Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot squawks and returns for his own eight-episode Max miniseries titled The Penguin. The long-gestated show entered the Hollywood pipeline when the first installment in the Reevesverse dropped in March 2022. However, there were concerns it wouldn’t even materialize after the upheaval of all things DC at Warner Bros. Discovery threatened every future development. The release of the first trailer allayed all these fears, confirming the show would premiere in late 2024.
What happened to the Penguin in ‘The Batman’?
In The Batman, Oz operated out of the shady Iceberg Lounge and served as a trusted stooge for kingpin Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). However, the mobster known as the Penguin was left disgusted after finding out Falcone had been an informant for the Gotham City Police Department and responsible for the incarceration of rival crime lord Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown). Oz’s outrage resulted in him pulling a gun on Falcone, but before he was able to pull the trigger, the Riddler (Paul Dano) got to Falcone first. After the events of the flood, Oz found himself free and with no master to serve.
Where does ‘The Penguin’ fit into the story?
Colin Farrell confirmed The Penguin takes place a week after the events of The Batman as Gotham City deals with the aftermath of the flood. Where some see crisis, others see opportunity. With Falcone gone, there’s an opportunity for someone to take his place as the kingpin of crime, and that’s where Oz steps up to the plate.
“It’s one man’s rise to what he’s always dreamed of inhabiting, which is a certain power or social status,” Farrell told Jonatan Blomberg from MovieZine. “The death of Carmine Falcone at the end of the film leaves this vacuum in Gotham to be filled and so there are various people that are grabbing for that power and this is Oswald’s journey trying to rise to the top through extraordinary obstacles.”
One of the people standing in Oz’s way is Falcone’s daughter, Sofia (Cristin Milioti). In the comics, Sofia and her brother, Alberto (Michael Zegen), prove to be more twisted and ruthless than their father, so it’s highly likely they will pose an even bigger threat to Oz in The Penguin. Don’t be surprised if further elements of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s seminal comic book The Long Halloween – which served as a major inspiration for The Batman – are utilized for the series, such as a certain serial killer named Holiday.
A key point in the trailer shows Oz meeting with the incarcerated Maroni. Considering Oz’s previous ties to Falcone, bad blood may linger between the pair, but they have mutual enemies in terms of the Falcone crime family now. Oz could exploit this to his advantage and turn Maroni into an unexpected ally in this war for control of Gotham’s underworld.
Oz also discusses his past in the trailer, mentioning a gangster from his youth named Rex Calabrese, who received a momentous sendoff from the neighborhood after he died from a heart attack. While it sounds like a way for Oz to monologue about who he wants to emulate in his life, Calabrese might be more important than most people realize here. In the comics, Calabrese ruled Gotham before Falcone’s crew took over. There’s a possibility that Penguin could find out it was a bullet from Falcone’s gun that stopped Calabrese’s ticker here, and not a heart attack after all. Additionally, there’s a DC continuity where Calabrese is revealed to be the real father of Selina Kyle, having abandoned her at a young age. While The Batman reveals Falcone to be Selina’s father in the Reevesverse, who is to say that Falcone never told her who her real daddy is?!
Who is behind the series?
Speaking to ET, Colin Farrell stated that Matt Reeves wouldn’t be directing or writing The Penguin; instead, Reeves overlooked it from an executive producer standpoint. Resultantly, the onus fell on Lauren LeFranc to be the showrunner and writer of the series.
LeFranc is no stranger to the superhero world, though, having served as a producer and writer on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Farrell added that she did “an extraordinary job” and described her as “formidable.” In terms of directors, Craig Zobel (The Leftovers, American Gods, Westworld) and Helen Shaver (Station Eleven, Quantum Leap, Snowpierecer) were announced to helm several episodes.
What has remained clear throughout is that The Penguin won’t be straying too far from the character introduced in The Batman, as the series aims to be dark, violent, and more like The Sopranos than The Avengers. This Gotham is gritty and dirty…the walls and characters need a good wash to get rid of all the grime.
The Penguin will waddle its way onto Max in late 2024.
