Earlier this year Warner Bros. ushered fans of DC's Caped Crusader into the world of The Batman. This new take on Gotham's Dark Knight saw Robert Pattinson in the lead role alongside Colin Farrell as the Penguin, Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman), and Paul Dano as the Riddler.
From the jump, fans have known that director Matt Reeves' take on the Batman mythos was going to make waves across WB. This was clearly presented in talk of a sequel to the film, alongside a couple of spin-offs, including an HBO Max series centered on the Penguin.
Production on Farrell's DC project is set to begin sometime in early 2023, with director Craig Zobel signed on to direct at least one episode and writer Lauren Lefranc writing and showrunning.
Little is known about the actual plot of the series; however, the star of the title, Colin Farrell, has offered up a small nugget on what fans can expect.
A Look at HBO Max's The Penguin
In an interview with ExtraTV, The Penguin star Colin Farrell revealed what the first scene of the upcoming The Batman spin-off series will look like.
Farrell said that the series picks up "about a week after The Batman ends" while the city is still flooded, and the very first sequence sees the Gotham crime boss "splashing through the water in [Carmine] Falcone’s office:"
“It starts about a week after 'The Batman' ends. So Gotham is still somewhat underwater. I read the first script of the first episode and it opens up with [Oswald Cobblepott] feet splashing through the water in Falcone’s office, which even just that alone when I read it I was like, ‘Ahh, geez.’
The actor praised writer Lauren LeFranc's work on the project thus far, remarking that "it’s so well written:"
"It’s lovely. It’s so well written. Lauren LeFranc has done an extraordinary job. She’s writing the whole thing and showrunning it. She’s formidable and it’s a very exciting prospect."
Farrell finished things off by noting just how much "[he loves] that character" and after feeling like he "didn’t have enough" time as Oswald Cobblepott (aka the Penguin) in The Batman, now is his chance to "do more and more and more:"
"Because I love that character. I was greedy with it. I felt like I didn’t have enough. I wanted to do more and more and more. So now I’m getting the chance.”
It's Time for The Penguin to Shine
One of the biggest winners coming out of The Batman - aside from the obvious candidates like Reeves, Pattinson, and Kravitz - was Colin Farrell and his performance as the Penguin. His take on the character was truly unique and worked perfectly within the universe that the film had set up. That is why it was exciting to see the character (and, in turn, the actor) get his own spin-off series.
What is notable from these quotes though is not just that audiences now have some indication of what the opening moments of the project will look like, but where exactly it takes place in the timeline. When The Penguin was originally announced, it was unclear if it would be a direct follow-up to The Batman or if it would fall somewhere else in the timeline.
While some may have thought that a prequel series would be on the cards, telling the origin of this take on the character, it does not seem (at least early on) that the streaming series will go that direction. Instead, as indicated by Farrell, it will directly follow the events of The Batman, even going as far as to start in Gotham while it is still somewhat flooded.
And as for the scene itself of the tuxedoed Batman villain trudging through the flooded offices of Carmine Falcone, this could be an interesting spot for the show to open. Perhaps this introduction shows the Penguin really coming into his own, and taking on the nefarious responsibilities of the newly assassinated Falcone.
The Penguin has been teased to explore the character as "he rises through the darkened ranks to become The Penguin" fans know and love from the comics, so this first scene would make a lot of sense if this is still the case.
The Penguin will begin filming in early 2023, with no release details set in stone as of yet.
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