The Penguin: Matt Reeves Explains Why Robert Pattinson Doesn’t Appear in The Batman Spinoff

“It’s a big city. I can’t be everywhere,” Batman (Robert Pattinson) says as he stalks the shadows of Gotham City in the 2022 movie The Batman. “But they don’t know where I am.” Matt Reeves returns to Gotham City in the HBO limited series The Penguin, which picks up in the aftermath of the film and the death of crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). While Pattinson won’t be appearing in the spinoff — as Batman or his alter-ego, Bruce Wayne — the Dark Knight’s presence will be felt as Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) rises through the ranks of Gotham’s underworld.

“I’m a point-of-view filmmaker,” Reeves, who serves as executive producer on the series from showrunner Lauren LeFranc, explained to Total Film. “When I’m doing a Batman story, Batman and Bruce is going to bethe main point of view. To explore the rogues gallery, they could neverget the real estate we can do in a series. So Batman is in this [show]only as a sense that he’s a presence.”

Reeves continued: “You’re aware that all of theseevents began because of the Riddler, but the Riddler doesn’t appear andBatman doesn’t appear.”

Asked whether Pattinson appears as Bruce Wayne, Reeves said, “Rob is not going to be inthe show. I’d rather take the Band-Aid off now. We did talkabout all that, but we felt the best way to do this was to go on a grandexploration of a guy grabbing for power in this moment.”

Penguin’s power grab puts him up against Falcone’s family — his daughter, Sofia Falcone (Fargo’s Cristin Milioti), and his son, Alberto Falcone (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel‘s Michael Zegen) — plus rival gangster Salvatore Maroni (John Wick: Chapter 4‘s Clancy Brown). The story that unfolds over the eight-episode series will serve as “the entry point” for The Batman Part II, Reeves’ next film set to release in theaters in 2026.

The Batman sequel is “absolutely connected to where we leave things in the series,” Reeves told SFX Magazine. Not only will Farrell will reprise his role as Oz opposite Pattinson’s Batman, but throughout The Penguin, “There are details that actually connect right into the way the nextmovie begins, and the way that Oz enters that world as we hand the batonback to Batman, and Batman is on another case.”

The Penguin premieres Thursday, Sept. 19th on HBO and Max before moving to HBO Sundays on Sept. 29th.