The Penguin Producers Addresses Whether or Not Batman Will Cameo

Lauren LeFranc and Matt Reeves shoot down Battinson's appearance.

By Jenna Anderson

The Penguin makes its debut on HBO next month, following up on 2022's The Batman in a pretty major way. The television miniseries is set to center around Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin (Colin Farrell), who had already begun to become an adversary of Bruce Wayne / Batman (Robert Pattinson) during the events of The Batman. Given the series' place in Reeves' plans and the long wait for 2026's The Batman Part II, some have wondered if Pattinson will reprise his role in some capacity — but apparently, we can put one aspect of that to rest. While speaking to SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), The Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc and The Batman director Matt Reeves confirmed that Batman will not make any sort of cameo appearance in the series.

"I understand why people's desire would be to have Batman, or to think that unless Batman's in a show or a film then it doesn't have the same punch," LeFranc explained. "To me I think it packs a different punch. Matt's films are through the lens of the Batman, so you're high up, looking down on the city. It's a different perspective. With Oz, you're in the city streets, you're in the grit and the muck and the grime. He's looking up, wanting to claw his way to the top. So it's a different experience. I think Gotham is an interesting enough city that it deserves to have more doors unlocked within it, and for us to walk through those and see what we think."  

"I don't feel like it's missing something fundamental," Reeves echoed. "I feel like it's an extension of what is fundamentally there. We know this is the world of Batman. You're going down a different alley. So the spectre of Batman is there. The spectre of the Riddler is there. The spectre of everything that happens in the last movie is there. It informs it. And it's exactly where we begin."

What Is The Penguin About?

Plot details surrounding The Penguin remain under wraps, other than that it is being referred to as "the next chapter in The Batman saga from Matt Reeves."

The Penguin will star Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb, 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, and Theo Rossi as Dr. Julian Rush.

When Will The Batman Part II Premiere?

The Batman Part II is scheduled to be released in theaters on October 2, 2026, thanks to delays caused by last year's Hollywood labor strikes. As the film's co-writer, Mattson Tomlin, revealed in a recent interview, production on the film will begin next year, and that his collaborative process with Reeves and has been "pretty tremendous" thus far.

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"It's shooting next year. We're gearing up, and I will say that the bar just couldn't be higher. It's the sequel to the first one. But also, Matt [Reeves] is like no other. In the five years now that I've been working with him as closely as I have, I've tried to absorb as much as humanly possible from him, and I'm so grateful for the time that I get to spend with him, because he is a true artist who is operating in a world where sometimes art doesn't get to flourish, and he's trying to make something that really matters. So to be able to just be on the ride and be part of that process, it's pretty unbelievable, pretty tremendous. I'm psyched for the movie."

The Penguin will premiere exclusively on HBO on September 19th.

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