Part of what made Matt Reeves’ The Batman such a big success was how grounded and gritty Gotham was, and how the story leaned into throwback noir elements to create a visceral drama. While Robert Pattinson rocked the cape and cowl and capably carried the movie for most of its nearly three-hour runtime, Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobblepot/Penguin was an absolute scene-stealer. So much so that Warner Bros. and Max decided to give Farrell his own spin-off show.
It’s quite the metamorphosis to see Farrell like this thanks to his relentless dialect work, his deliberate change in physicality, and the impeccable work of the costume and makeup departments to make him a believable, husky, unflattering and flawed crime boss. Much of the teaser trailer that dropped Friday features Oz delivering a deliberate monologue. Let’s just say he nails it.
Again, this is Colin Farrell we’re talking about here. Not to get off-topic out of the gate, but I couldn’t help but notice the stark difference between this trailer and the one that premiered less than a few weeks ago for another streaming show he’s doing for Apple TV+, titled Sugar.
Watch those two back-to-back (they book look great) and continue to bear in mind that the star of both those cutups is the same human. It’s kinda wild to say the least.
Back to The Penguin. We don’t get an official release date, only that the series will debut this fall. That’s great news! And let’s be honest, with how Warner Bros. has struggled handling its DC superhero properties of late, fans needed a shot in the arm like this. Anticipation is very real for James Gunn’s Superman, which started shooting recently. However, that’s not coming out until 2025, and marks a full-blown reboot of the larger DC Universe on TV and film. Although Joker: Folie à Deux arrives in October, we just got news that the proper sequel to The Batman is delayed a full year to October 2, 2026.
Couldn’t have been a much better time for DC to give us a taste of what to expect from Farrell’s Oz in a story that’s in its own self-contained Reevesverse/Battinson continuity. Oz still seems obsessed with legacy, power, and status given his whole spiel about the gangster who died. It’ll be really interesting to see how the story picks up with him following the events of The Batman, where Gotham is more or less flooded by the end. Spoilers for a years-old movie, but now that Carmine Falcone is dead, there should be a power vacuum in the criminal underworld, especially with such a cataclysmic event hitting the city.
All I know is, the Emmys and Golden Globes better gear up to nominate some of the folks on The Penguin who make Farrell’s transformation so seamless. Farrell himself should be a big contender on the awards circuit next year. Not bad for an actor who got a Best Actor Oscar nomination for The Banshees of Inisherin in his last major role.
