Colin Farrell returns as Batman’s nemesis in the first official trailer for The Penguin, which was released on Friday.
The 47-year-old actor — unrecognizable in prosthetics as Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin — is prominently featured in the spinoff series of Matt Reeves’ film The Batman coming this fall to Max.
The show picks up right after the events of Reeves’ 2022 blockbuster, following Cobblepot’s journey to dominance in Gotham City’s underworld, after he previously served as a lieutenant to crime boss Carmine Falcone, who died in the film.
In the trailer, Cobb delivers a vintage gangster speech, ala Tony Soprano from The Sopranos, over a montage of the city becoming increasingly more violent.
‘When I was a kid, there was a gangster, real old-school type. Rex Calabrese. He was a big deal. He helped people. He saw you on the street, he’d call out to you,’ Farrell’s Penguin begins.
Colin Farrell returns as Batman’s nemesis in the first official trailer for The Penguin, which was released on Friday
The 47-year-old actor — unrecognizable in prosthetics as Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin — is prominently featured in the spinoff series of Matt Reeves’ film The Batman coming this fall to Max
‘When I was 14 or something, he has a heart attack and dies, still holding a cigar. In my neighborhood, they throw a parade in his honor. A friggin’ parade. It wasn’t fancy, but it was a gesture, a show of love, of what he meant’ he continues.
‘Can you imagine to be remembered like that?’ Penguin concludes.
Farrell is joined by Cristin Milioti portraying Carmine Falcone’s daughter, Sofia, alongside Michael Zegen as Carmine’s son, Alberto, and Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, a prominent former gangster in Gotham.
The ensemble cast also includes Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Carmen Ejogo, François Chau, and David H. Holmes.
In this eight-episode drama series crafted by DC Studios, the narrative of The Batman crime saga is further explored.
The Warner Bros. DC movie amassed over $772.2 million worldwide and secured its place as one of the most-watched films on the Max streaming platform.
The series is helmed by executive producer and showrunner Lauren LeFranc, recognized for her work on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Reeves will serve as an executive producer through his production company, 6th & Idaho.
The show picks up right after the events of Reeves’ 2022 blockbuster, following Cobblepot’s journey to dominance in Gotham City’s underworld, after he previously served as a lieutenant to crime boss Carmine Falcone, who died in the film; Farrell in March 2024
In the trailer, Cobb delivers a vintage gangster speech, ala Tony Soprano from The Sopranos , over a montage of the city becoming increasingly more violent
‘When I was a kid, there was a gangster, real old-school type. Rex Calabrese. He was a big deal. He helped people. He saw you on the street, he’d call out to you,’ Farrell’s Penguin begins
‘When I was 14 or something, he has a heart attack and dies, still holding a cigar. In my neighborhood, they throw a parade in his honor. A friggin’ parade. It wasn’t fancy, but it was a gesture, a show of love, of what he meant’ he continues
In this eight-episode drama series crafted by DC Studios, the narrative of The Batman crime saga is further explored
Craig Zobel, executive producer of Mare of Easttown, will direct the first three episodes.
Production commenced in March 2023 but was temporarily halted in June due to strikes among writers and actors. Shooting resumed the week after Thanksgiving.
The Penguin trailer comes after it was announced last week that The Batman Part II, once again starring Robert Pattinson, had been delayed a year and will now debut in October 2026.
DC co-Chiefs Peter Safran and James Gunn clarified that Reeves’ Batman exists within an alternate universe, separate from Phase One of their ‘Gods and Monsters’ DC universe.
This phase begins with the theatrical release of Superman on July 11, 2025.
In the works is The Brave and the Bold, a Batman project by Safran and Gunn, centering on Bruce Wayne and his previously undisclosed son, Damien Wayne, who assumes the mantle of Robin.
Back in January 2023, Farrell confessed to Variety that he had no idea he would be asked to star in a stand-alone series about The Penguin while shooting The Batman.
‘The only thing I had an idea was that I wasn’t nearly getting to explore the character as much as I wanted to,’ Farrell said.
The Warner Bros. DC movie amassed over $772.2 million worldwide and secured its place as one of the most-watched films on the Max streaming platform
Farrell is joined by Cristin Milioti portraying Carmine Falcone’s daughter, Sofia, alongside Michael Zegen as Carmine’s son, Alberto, and Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, a prominent former gangster in Gotham
The ensemble cast also includes Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Carmen Ejogo, François Chau, and David H. Holmes
In this eight-episode drama series crafted by DC Studios, the narrative of The Batman crime saga is further explored
The series is helmed by executive producer and showrunner Lauren LeFranc, recognized for her work on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
Production commenced in March 2023 but was temporarily halted in June due to strikes among writers and actors. Shooting resumed the week after Thanksgiving
‘There was all this extraordinary work done by [makeup and prosthetics artists] Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine and his team, and I just thought it was the tip of the iceberg, pardon the pun, that we were getting to do the six or seven scenes that we did in the film. I was grateful for them, but I wanted more.’
The Castleknock, County Dublin, Ireland native added, ‘Honest to God, any thoughts I had about an extended series was to do with Mike Marino’s work.
‘I Just know there was so much to do with this. Age it up, age it down. He’s just a genius, Mike, so it was his work that was the inspiration really.’
It was Variety that first reported Farrell had signed on to star in The Penguin in December 2021, which was then followed up March 2022 by HBO Max officially ordering the show to series.
