The Penguin is set after the events of Matt Reeves' blockbuster film The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson. Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin, tries to take control of the crime world in Gotham.
Developed by writer-showrunner Lauren LeFranc, the series' cast also includes 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.
In the trailer for the eight-part limited series from Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios, we see Farrell's Oz discussing how he is looking for his own version of "the American dream, a beautiful story with a happy ending."
Later, as we are introduced to characters played by Milioti, Feliz, Kelly and more, there is talk of a "gang war" and Milioti's Sofia talks about how she was released from Arkham Asylum after being "rehabilitated".
Oz then talks about his plans to "burn the empire from within" - and warns, "Believe me, this is just the beginning."
The new trailer for The Penguin emerged from a Comic-Con panel featuring cast members Milioti, Feliz and Farrell (zoomed in from Macao), as well as LeFranc, Reeves and executive producer Dylan Clark.
Reeves described The Penguin as a character stepping into “a power vacuum in Gotham” who is “totally underestimated but has this fire inside of him.” He also at one point suddenly dropped the bomb that disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein was one visual model for the creation of the character through makeup. Later on, he confirmed that Farrell will be back for his next Batman film, which shoots next year.
Noting that “the lore of this world held such an attraction for me,” Farrell saw him as someone with “violence and pain etched on [his] face.” Over the course of the series, he said, we’ll look at “this life and how broken it is, [someone embodying] this depth of ambition and greed, and the consequences of events from Oz’s childhood.”
As much as he was “a disaster,” Farrell said, The Penguin was an incredibly “tasty character” to dig into.
On the subject of the dynamic between Oz and Sofia, Farrell said we’ll see the characters have “a shared history that goes way back” and have a lot in common as people who have had to “fight” their whole lives, though in the end they wind up “on opposite sides of a very real argument that will be very consequential for Gotham.”
Executive producers for The Penguin are Reeves, Dylan Clark, Farrell, LeFranc, Craig Zobel (who directs the first three episodes) and Bill Carraro. The series is based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.
The series is produced by Reeves' 6th & Idaho Productions and Clark's Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an umbrella deal, and DC Studios. Daniel Pipski is also executive producer.
The series debuts on Thursday, September 19 at 9:00 PM (US time) on HBO and will also be available to stream on HBO Max.
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