The Penguin is a Scarface story of Oswald’s rise to power

Colin Farrell damn near stole the show in The Batman, disappearing beneath layers of incredibly convincing prosthetics to play Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin. While we await The Batman Part II, we will be thrust back into the Gotham City underworld with The Penguin, an HBO series centering around the titular character. The Penguin will find Oswald taking advantage of the power vacuum created by the death of Carmine Falcone, with showrunner and executive producer Lauren LeFranc telling Empire that the series will be a Scarface story set in the world of The Batman.

“Matt [Reeves came up] with this Scarface story – a rise to power,” LaFranc explained. “I turned it into a psychological character study of this man. Mobsters historically are larger than life, so there is that slightly elevated quality to it, but he’s just a man. A very complicated man.“

In addition to chronicling Oswald’s journey to the top, The Penguin series will also explore what makes him tick, notably his relationship with his disturbed mother. “This is what differentiates him from previous versions of the Penguin in the comics, where he used to come from a wealthy, well-known family,” LeFranc said. “Matt had already made him an underdog in that he was number two to Carmine Falcone in the film, but we didn’t know anything about his family. So it was important to me that he comes from nothing, and he’s really aching to get more status and be seen as more important.“

In addition to Colin Farrell, The Penguin stars Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, daughter of the late Carmine, Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, Oswald’s driver, Michael Kelly as Johnny Vity, Falcone family underboss, and Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, a rival gangster. Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, James Madio, Scott Cohen, Michael Zegen, Carmen Ejogo, and Theo Rossi also star in the series.

The Penguin was originally developed by Max, but it has since moved to HBO alongside several other shows that were initially announced for Max. The series will debut on HBO on September 19th. As for The Batman Part II, we’ve got quite a wait in store as the film has been delayed by an entire year and will now hit theaters on October 2, 2026.