The Penguin Series Will Take Place One Week After The Events Of The Batman
Colin Farrell has been doing some of the most interesting work of his career in the last few years, with his roles in "The Batman" and "The North Water" showing off his transformational ability and "The Banshees of Inisherin" reuniting him with "In Bruges" writer-director Martin McDonagh for a film that is already gaining Oscar buzz. He's also got his own Penguin-centric HBO Max spin-off series on the way, so if you're ready for more Spanish lessons and/or old-time gangster-like "sweethearts," it sounds like the series will be serving as a direct continuation of that mode of Oswald Cobblepot, picking up right where "The Batman" left off.
In an interview with Extra (via Variety), Farrell elaborated on the timeline for "The Penguin," saying, "It starts about a week after 'The Batman' ends, so Gotham is still, somewhat, underwater. I read the first script of the first episode and it opens up on my feet splashing through the water in [Carmine] Falcone's office. Even that alone, when I read it, I was like, 'Oh, Jesus!'" He added:
"It's lovely. It's so well-written. Lauren LeFranc has done such an extraordinary job, and she's writing the whole thing and show-running. She is formidable. It's just an exciting prospect. I love that character. I was greedy with it. I felt like I didn't have enough. I wanted to do it more and more and more."
The criminal element never sleeps
When last we saw Penguin at the end of "The Batman," he was looking out over the flooded Gotham City from a window while Nirvana's "Something in the Way" played on the soundtrack, and Robert Pattinson's Batman narrated in voiceover about how Gotham's "criminal element never sleeps." Cobblepot's scarred visage was juxtaposed with talk of "the parts of the city no one can get to" and how "things will get worse before they get better," with some (meaning him) seizing "the chance to grab everything they can." This obviously sets up Penguin as a contender for the throne of Gotham's underworld, someone who will be looking to fill the power gap left behind by his old boss, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro).
While promoting "The Banshees of Inisherin," Farrell also told Collider this week that the "Penguin" series is filming in New York. He referenced "Oz" as a comparison point, and I'm assuming he's talking about the HBO prison drama "Oz" and not "The Wizard of Oz," though you never know.
"I think if it goes ahead," Farrell said, "I read the first episode, which is just so tasty and so unusual as the character was on the page and what Matt Reeves kind of envisioned when he was thinking of this iteration of the bang-up of 'Oz.' So yeah, it'll be, I think six or eight hours. I'm supposed to read episode two and three within the next week."
Six to eight hours sounds like just the right dose of Penguin if you ask me. We'll keep you posted on the further development of the "Penguin" series, and in the meantime, remember: a bat is a rat with wings.