With filming slated to commence in early 2023, new details surrounding HBO Max’s upcoming Penguin spinoff are beginning to surface. So far, the only cast members are Colin Farrell, who’s reprising his role as Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot from The Batman, and Cristin Milioti, who joins the franchise as Sofia Falcone. Last month, Farrell let slip that the series picks up almost exactly where The Batman left off. Now, in a new conversation with Variety, HBO Max head of originals Sarah Aubrey confirmed that the show will indeed bridge the gap between the original film and its highly-anticipated sequel.
“Penguin will sit immediately after the end of The Batman and temporally before the events of the second movie,” said Aubrey. “The show will come out in between the two movies. Now beyond that, it’s fun for the audience to know that it will be a bridge between the two. But the actual release date, I’m not at liberty to say.”
Aubrey also teased that viewers will witness a side of Gotham City that they didn’t see in The Batman this year. Namely, because Cobblepot has a much different perspective than Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight.
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“The goal of this is to show what Oz’s life is like and that’s very much in the streets of Gotham, trying to get up and over as only the Penguin can,” continued Aubrey. “As a hustler and a strategist with his own ambitions. It is a great example of having the time over eight episodes to tell a longer-arc character story with a lot of delicious twists and turns and new characters. It’s very much going to be about Gotham at that street level, because he’s not flying around like Batman does. We are all embracing that as a very specific experience for audiences to have.”
Farrell’s Penguin series isn’t the only DC show coming to HBO Max in the near future. Following the success of Peacemaker (and fresh off being crowned the new co-CEO of DC Studios), James Gunn is still developing at least one other Suicide Squad spinoff as well. Aubrey could only say that whatever Gunn has in store for us is “really exciting.” However, she also briefly addressed the long-gestating Green Lantern series, which is reportedly getting overhauled into a solo vehicle for the John Stewart version of the character. It’s still early, but Aubrey says fans can still expect a “big four-quadrant space opera” when the show finally premieres.
HBO Max still hasn’t announced a premiere date for The Penguin.
Are you excited to revisit Gotham from Cobblepot’s perspective? Let us know in the comment section below!
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