The Penguin: what we know about Colin Farrell’s The Batman TV spin-off on Max

• June 22, 2024

The Penguin is gearing up to waddle onto TV screens worldwide. The first of two confirmed TV spin-offs from The Batman, the forthcoming crime thriller will see Colin Farrell return as the infamous titular crime lord – known as Oz Cobb, not Oswald Cobblepot – as he makes a play to become Gotham City’s new undisputed crime kingpin.

Before we get carried away with discussing its plot, though, let’s back up and make sure we cover other must-read information about the DC Comics-inspired series. Below, you’ll find the latest news about The Penguin ahead of its debut on Max (US) and Sky/Now TV (UK), including its American release month, confirmed cast, story details, trailers, and how its narrative might affect The Batman Part 2.

Full spoilers follow for 2022’s The Batman movie. Potential spoilers for The Penguin are also discussed.

The Penguin release date: what we know

The Penguin doesn’t have a full release date, but it’ll arrive on Max (in the US, anyway), in September. The Penguin TV show’s release month was confirmed in mid-June just days after HBO boss Casey Bloys provided an update on a number of Max TV shows, including this neo-noir crime series.

As mentioned, it’ll also be released in the UK but, according to a Sky press blast, “information on distribution in the UK and Ireland will follow in due course”. It’s unclear, then, when The Penguin will be viewable on British shores. There’s no information about an Australian release date and streaming home for the show yet, either.

The Penguin trailer

The Penguin‘s official trailer made its debut on June 20, with the two-minute teaser giving us our clearest look yet at its story. Set in the immediate aftermath of The Batman‘s finale, it reveals that Oz Cobb will look to seize control of Gotham’s criminal underbelly as a civil war erupts between the city’s various criminal factions following crime boss Carmine Falcone’s death in The Batman.

Missed The Penguin‘s first trailer, which arrived in March and revealed that Oz Cobb will be on the criminal warpath in The Batman‘s first TV spin-off? Check it out below:

The Penguin cast: confirmed and rumored

Here’s The Penguin‘s confirmed cast so far:

• Colin Farrell as Oz’ Cobb/The Penguin
• Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone
• Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar
• Michael Kelly as Johnny Viti
• Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni
• Deirdre O’Connell as Francis Cobb
• Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni
• James Madio as Milos Grapa
• Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone
• Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone
• Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo
• Theo Rossi as Doctor Julian Rush

Milioti, who some viewers might recognize as the titular mom from How I Met Your Mother, will be the series’ primary antagonist – well, if you can call Farrell’s Cobb the “hero” of this piece. She’s the daughter of the recently deceased Carmine, so she’ll be battling Cobb for control of Gotham’s criminal underworld. Judging by the show’s second trailer, though, she’ll have to get her hands dirty in order to earn the respect of her fellow criminals within, and outside of, the Falcone family.

Zegen (Boardwalk Empire, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) will play Sofia’s brother, Alberto, while Kelly (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) is set to portray Viti, the Falcone family’s underboss – essentially, Carmine’s second-in-command – who’s seen telling Cobb to remember where his allegiances lie (i.e. with the Falcones) in the second teaser. You can expect this duo to help Sofia in her battle with Oz – you know, once the wider Falcone family and their associates start listening to her.

The titular character won’t engage in this conflict alone, however. O’Connell (Outer Range) will play Francis Cobb, aka some form of relation to Oz (maybe his wife?), while Feliz (Runaways) is set to play a character named Victor, who looks to be Oz’s main lackey.

It’s also possible that Brown (Invincible, Gen V), who’ll play Maroni, will team up with Cobb to usurp the Falcone family. Per Deadline, Maroni is a mob boss who was involved in a historic drug bust, in which Carmine Falcone was the Gotham City Police Department’s informant. Maroni, then, will surely still have an ax to grind with the Falcone family, and may ally himself with Cobb to bring their empire to its knees. That could be the case, anyway, providing as they get along, which the second trailer suggests they might not fully do.

As for actors who might be involved but haven’t been confirmed yet, it seems Mark Strong (Shazam!, 1917) will appear, too. Responding to a fan question on Instagram, Strong’s personal trainer Giacomo Farci said he’d trained Strong for a role in the show. Will we learn who he’s playing pre-release? We’ll have to wait and see.

The Penguin story speculation

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) hasn’t released an official story synopsis for The Penguin yet. In a press release accompanying both trailers, the entertainment giant simply teased that “the eight-episode DC Studios drama series continues The Batman epic crime saga that filmmaker Matt Reeves began with… and centers on the character played by Farrell in the film.”

There are some details – some minor, some major – that we know about, though. Speaking to TechRadar ahead of The Batman‘s release, Farrell revealed the Max show’s runtime, with the beloved actor suggesting it’ll be “six to eight hours” of story spread across eight episodes.

Elaborating on what we can expect from this new Batman production, Farrell also told TechRadar: “[I’m excited about] getting more into the character and just, as you say, maybe getting more into his origin and the Oz that we meet in the film.

“I only have six or seven scenes in the movie, so Oz is still kind of an unknown quantity to me as well. So, I’ve become very excited by the prospect of getting to learn what the parameters are, if indeed there are any for the character. I mean, he’s got a lovely kind of sense of humor. He’s kind of funny, but he’s kind of not, but he thinks he is. He’s definitely dangerous and has a kind of a certain psychopath to him. But he’s also a little bit broken inside, as many of us are, so it’ll be fun to explore all those aspects.”

Expanding on some non-spoiler-based elements, Farrell told MovieZine: “It’s dark – that’s what I can tell you about it. It’s really dark and really heavy… it’s incredibly violent. It’s one man’s rise to what he’s always dreamed of inhabiting, which is a certain power or social status.”

As far as spoilers go before The Penguin launches, you’ll want to read our The Batman ending explained article for more details. Based on the two trailers, and as we teased in our cast section, there’ll be a power vacuum in Gotham’s criminal underworld following Carmine Falcone’s death, so we can expect multiple factions to make plays for their share of the cash, drugs, and guns that are run through the city. There may also be the formation of some uneasy alliances if individuals like Oz need some financial or gun-toting backing in their bids to become Gotham’s new kingpin.

It sounds like everyone will be trying to take advantage of the wider chaos that engulfed Gotham in The Batman‘s finale. There are some clues about what went down in our review of The Batman and the aforementioned ending explainer. But, to give you some extra hints about its story, Farrell told Variety that The Penguin will be set one week after The Batman, with Gotham still underwater following The Riddler’s explosive (and successful) plan to flood the city. Judging by what the trailers showed, too, it seems Oz and Sofia will see each other as kindred spirits who, despite their clear rivalry, are both trying to show the rest of the city’s major crime-based players that they mean business.

Hopefully, we’ll find out more about what’s in store for Oz and Gotham’s other criminal enterprises in the lead-up to the show’s debut.

Will The Penguin tie into The Batman Part 2?

Most likely. A sequel to The Batman was announced in April 2022, just one month after the critically acclaimed film – see where it sits in our best Batman movies guide – flew into theaters.

Considering The Penguin is part of Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe, it would be bizarre if the gritty and grounded TV series doesn’t impact what happens in the forthcoming film, which was recently delayed out of its original October 2025 release date. Yes, The Penguin is a standalone tale that won’t focus on the Dark Knight, but events depicted in it will surely play some role in The Batman Part 2, even if plot details from The Penguin are merely referenced in passing.

Of course, if Cobb triumphs in his self-titled show and becomes Gotham’s new crime boss, we’d expect him to show up in a scene or two in The Batman sequel. After all, Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader and Jeremy Wright’s Commissioner Gordon interrogated Oz in The Batman to get some key intel on The Riddler. The pair may reluctantly enlist Cobb’s help again, then, if the next threat to Gotham’s safety becomes too big for them to handle – or, you know, if they need some dirt on the next criminal/supervillain who wants to bring the city and/or Bruce Wayne to their knees.

For more DC-based coverage, find out how to watch the DC movies in order or how to watch the Batman movies in order. Alternatively, learn about every DC Cinematic Universe (DCU) project in development via our DCU Chapter One hub, or get the lowdown on James Gunn’s Superman movie, which is slated to arrive in July 2025.

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The Penguin: key information – Set to air on Max (US) in September– Will also debut on Sky/Now TV (UK) in late 2024– First trailer confirmed it’ll pick up directly after 2022’s The Batman– Second trailer teased key plot details– No other story beats have been revealed– Colin Farrell will…