THE PENGUIN Series Will Premiere This Year According to WB CEO David Zaslav
It sounds like we won’t have to wait much longer for Matt Reeves’ The Batman spinoff series The Penguin. During the recent Warner Bros. Q4 earnings call, CEO David Zaslav shared that The Penguin will drop later this year. He said:
"Looking ahead, we’ve got one of the best lineups in the history of HBO. This next quarter, we’ll have Hacks and House of the Dragon, followed by DC’s The Penguin and the new Dune series. Then in 2025, we’ll kick off the year with the new season of The White Lotus, followed by The Last of Us and Euphoria, just to name a few."
I’ve been excited to see how this Penguin series turns out. Colin Farrell reprises his role in the eight-episode series, which focuses on Penguin’s rise as the new kingpin of Gotham City. It has been described as a “Scarface-like” series and the story will "pick up days after where The Batman ended, exploring the moves that Cobblepot makes in the power vacuum left by Carmine Falcone’s departure"
When previously talking about the movie, Farrell said: "I think it's going to be eight parts for HBO around Oz's rise into power, filling that power vacuum that was created when Falcone was killed. Matt [Reeves]'s idea originally was to have the Penguin show begin about a week after the end of the Batman film. And then, if it works, if the trajectory is interesting enough and if the audience go for it and we do our jobs right, have the second film – Penguin feature in the second film and pick up where the HBO show will end."
During another interview, Farrell shared that he read the first script and teased what we can expect from the opening scene of the series, sharing: “Gotham is still somewhat underwater. I read the first script for the first episode, and it opens up with my feet splashing through the water in Falcone’s office. Even just that alone, I read it, I was like, ‘Oh, jeez.’”
The series stars Farrell, as well as Cristin Milioti, who plays female lead Sofia Falcone, and Rhenzy Feliz, who plays a teen whom The Penguin befriends and makes his driver. The rest of the cast includes Michael Kelly (House of Cards, Jack Ryan), Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse, House Of Sand And Fog) and Deirdre O’Connell (Outer Range).
Lauren LeFranc will serve as writer and showrunner on the series, and when talking about it, he said, “I have long been a fan of the world of The Batman, and Matt’s film is such a powerful and bold entry into the canon. I am excited and humbled to continue telling stories in the grimy world of Gotham City – and what better excuse to channel my inner villain than to tell the story of Oswald Cobblepot? I am thrilled to work with Colin, Matt, Dylan, 6th & Idaho, Warners, and HBO Max as we work to bring this story to the screen.”
The Penguin will be followed up with The Batman sequel, which is going to tie into the Penguin series.