The Penguin Was Almost The Batman 2 Story, but HBO Boss Said "I Want That" (Exclusive)

"'You can't just have these characters be in the movie space.'"

By Cameron Bonomolo

HBO squawked at the thought of Matt Reeves' Batman Epic Crime Saga unfolding exclusively on the big screen. Even before The Batman movie starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight premiered in theaters in 2022, WarnerMedia's HBO Max streaming service greenlit two television spinoffs: The Penguin, about Oz Cobb's (Colin Farrell) rise to power after the movie, and a series focused on a corrupt cop within the Gotham City Police Department, set one year before the movie. Gotham P.D. was eventually retooled into the since-scrapped Arkham Asylum series, but elements of that crime drama made their way into Penguin (premiering Sept. 19th on HBO and Max).

"The streaming-cable space was was a no-brainer for some of the bigger characters. Casey [Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content] was the first person that said, 'I need a marquee character,'" The Batman and The Penguin producer Dylan Clark tells ComicBook. "And Matt said, 'You know, I have this really good idea for Colin for the second movie.' And Casey said, 'I want that. You can't just have these characters be in the movie space.'"

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(Photo:

Robert Pattinson in The Batman (2022) and Colin Farrell in The Penguin (2024).

- Warner Bros. Pictures / HBO / Max)

Reeves has since confirmed that Farrell will reprise his role in The Batman Part II, and that The Penguin bridges the gap between the first movie and its 2026 sequel.

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"It was a natural transition that way, and I think we have some great ideas to explore more characters from our movie space to do this same thing with Casey and Sarah [Aubrey, Max original programming chief]," Clark adds. 

The eight-episode HBO Original limited series focuses on the escalating gang war and power vacuum that emerges on the streets of Gotham after the death of crime lord Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) in The Batman. Oz's power grab puts him up against Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) and Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen), heirs to the Falcone Crime Family empire, syndicate underboss Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly), and rival mobster Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown).

The Penguin — the next chapter in The Batman's Epic Crime Saga spanning film, television, and tie-in comic books — stars Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti alongside Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O'Connell, Clancy Brown, James Madio, Scott Cohen, Michael Zegen, Carmen Ejogo, and Theo Rossi. The series premieres Thursday, Sept. 19th, on HBO and Max before moving to Sunday nights on HBO starting with episode 2 on Sept. 29th.

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