Colin Farrell stars as Batman villain Oswald Cobblepot in HBO’s new series, The Penguin.
The merging of Warner Bros. and Discovery effectively put an end to one DC Extended Universe era while placing the fate of several planned projects in limbo. Chief among those was a sequel to 2022’s The Batman and an associated spinoff series, The Penguin. Both projects have survived the merger, and DC Studio unveiled the first full trailer for The Penguin—starring Colin Farrell reprising his The Batman role of Oswald Cobblepot—during its panel at San Diego Comic-Con last weekend.
The panel also included a first look and a screening of the first episode of Prime Video’s new animated series Batman: Caped Crusader, with Minnie Driver voicing a gender-swapped version of the Penguin named Oswalda Cobblepot. The official trailer dropped last month.
(Spoilers for 2022’s The Batman below.)
Farrell’s Cobblepot/Penguin was crime boss Carmine Falcone’s (John Turturro) chief lieutenant in The Batman, a mid-level mobster who operated the Iceberg Lounge. (Director Matt Reeves once likened him to Fredo Corleone in 1972’s The Godfather.) The film’s climax unmasked forensic accountant Edward Nashton (Paul Dano) as the serial killer Riddler, who killed Falcone with a sniper rifle as his last murderous act. He also planted bombs all over Gotham City, which destroyed the city’s seawall and caused a massive flood.
The Penguin picks up one week after that flooding. Falcone’s death has left a power vacuum in Gotham City, and Cobblepot is determined to assume control of the criminal underworld—but he’s facing some stiff competition. Based on the teaser, it’s basically a supervillain version of The Sopranos and indeed, Farrell does seem to be channeling Tony Soprano in many of his scenes.
In addition to Farrell, the cast includes Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Carmine’s daughter who is also a psychopathic serial killer known as Hangman. Newly released from Arkham Asylum, she’s Cobblepot’s primary rival for control of Gotham’s criminal underworld. Rhenzy Feliz plays Cobblepot’s teenage driver, Victor Aguilar; Michael Kelly plays Falcone crime family underboss Johnny Vitti; Deirdre O’Connell plays Cobblepot’s mentally unbalanced mother; Clancy Brown plays mob boss/drug trafficker Salvatore Maroni; Shohreh Aghdashloo plays Nadia Maroni; Michael Zegen plays Sofia’s younger brother Alberto Falcone; Scott Cohen plays Luca Falcone; James Madio plays Milos Grapa; Theo Rossi plays a doctor named Julian Rush; and Carmen Ejogo plays Eve Karlo.
The Penguin premieres on HBO on September 19, 2024. Batman: Caped Crusader debuts on Prime Video on August 1, 2024.
Clip from Prime Video’s forthcoming animated HBO’s new series, Batman: Caped Crusader.
Listing image by YouTube/MAX