HBO Max's The Penguin Will Give Fans A Bigger Window Into Street-Level Gotham
In a year jam-packed with superhero movies and television shows to enjoy, "The Batman" managed to not only stand out from the pack but captivate audiences everywhere. Courtesy of director Matt Reeves, moviegoers were welcomed into a new take on Gotham City, where a young Batman (Robert Pattinson) builds his legacy on the city's crime-ridden streets. Throughout the film, he encounters such threats as the Riddler (Paul Dano) and Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), as well as Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot (Colin Farrell) — better known by the alias the criminal underworld has given him, the Penguin.
At the time of "The Batman," Cobblepot is far from the influential criminal mastermind he is on the pages of DC Comics. He's Falcone's right-hand man, and he manages to draw the ire of the Batman, but he's still growing his stock in the crime world. Thankfully, we haven't seen the last of this take on the Penguin in live-action since the famous rogue is getting an HBO Max series all his own with Colin Farrell returning to the role. It will follow up on the events of "The Batman," and in doing so, explore Cobblepot's attempts to cling to power as Gotham's criminal underbelly recovers from Riddler's city-spanning attacks.
Additionally, as recently revealed, the Penguin-centric HBO Max series will flesh out the streets of Gotham City and all of the drama and violence that happens on them.
The Penguin will cover a lot of ground
HBO Max head of originals Sarah Aubrey shared with Variety some interesting tidbits about some of the shows currently in development at the streamer. Naturally, one such title that she provided an update on is "The Penguin," which she reiterated will take place after "The Batman" but before the upcoming sequel currently being put together by Matt Reeves. Sadly, she couldn't reveal a release date or window at the time of the interview, but she was able to shed some light on what "The Penguin" will look like when it finally reaches HBO Max sometime in the future.
"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 revealed, explaining that across eight episodes, fans will not only see Oswald Cobblepot's life change drastically, but plenty of twists and turns and new characters will arise as well. She also described the overall scope of the show as one that's grounded on the streets of Gotham City. After all, the Penguin is a criminal trying to make his way by any means necessary, not an over-the-top superhero. She concludes, "We are all embracing that as a very specific experience for audiences to have."
On a surface level, "The Penguin" has loads of potential. One can only hope its HBO Max debut isn't too far away.