Max, the newly-announced rebranding for HBO Max, has released first-look footage for The Penguin, a new series continuing The Batman saga. The Penguin featurette presents a shadow-drenched preview of the eight-episode DC Studios drama starring Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot, who aims to be the new kingpin of Gotham City.
Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Deirdre O’Connell join Farrell for the gritty crime drama, with Clancy Brown and Michael Zegen recurring.
The Penguin featurette offers a behind-the-scenes look at the next chapter in The Batman Saga. Following the events of The Batman, after the Riddler opened the floodgates of Gotham City (literally), a war for power rages through the darkly-lit streets in one of fiction’s most dangerous cities. The Penguin recognizes that Gotham is in a state of panic and aims to take advantage of a city gripped by fear.
We find Farrell hamming it up throughout the new footage as Oswald Cobblepot. The bird-like villain is more sinister in the new series, walking with his signature waddle and taking out the competition like they’re live mean nothing to anyone. The Batman warned us about Cobblepot’s shadier dealings, but we’ve yet to see him behave so ruthlessly.
Per Max’s official press release for The Penguin featurette:
The series is executive produced by Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner, Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes, and Bill Carraro. Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin is produced by Reeves’ 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer, and Rafi Crohn is co-executive producer.
Max’s Sarah Aubrey has previously said that the series events will pick up immediately after the end of The Batman as it shows Cobblepot’s. “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,” Aubrey said. “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.”
What do you think about The Penguin featurette? Are you prepared to follow Oswald into the darkest corners of a city controlled by fear? Let us know in the comments section below.