*sopranos theme*

The Penguin Rises

Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos by Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images and Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

Friendship with the man obsessed with bats is over; the man obsessed with penguins is my new best friend. Max has ordered a new show set in the universe of the recent Matt Reeves–directed The Batman. That film, for reference, debuted the Robert Pattinson version of Batman, not the currently still-maybe-around Ben Affleck version of the Batman in the Snyder-verse or the extremely recent Christopher Nolan version of the Batman. Nor is this universe the same as the Joker-verse (as in no Lady Gaga, mainly). Okay, cool. This new show, however, will not be focused on any version of Batman at all. Instead, it focuses on Colin Farrell as the Penguin, one of Batman’s opponents. With all the various Batman and Batman-hater universes flying around, below find everything we know about the upcoming eight-episode Max series The Penguin.

How are they making a The Batman spinoff?

The Penguin is set to follow the titular man, known outside his penguin-sona as Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, or as the press release announcing this show referred to him: Oz, which isn’t that much cooler. (Go by Oswald, you dork!) Oz’s whole deal is that he’s a part of the mob as a lieutenant of Carmine Falcone, the mob boss. In this version of The Batman, Falcone is also the father of Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman — a fact that is pretty interesting given that Sofia Falcone will be in the show too. The show will concern both Sofia and Oz, who are fighting for control of Gotham, according to Deadline.

What happens in the teaser trailer?

It’s speech time! As Oz, Farrell gives a monologue about a gangster from his childhood, who helped the community and was honored with a “friggin’ parade” after dying of a heart attack. “It wasn’t fancy, but it was a gesture, a show of love, of what he meant,” he says. “Can you imagine, to be remembered like that?” We then see The Penguin shooting, screaming, and stabbing his way through Gotham. Somehow, we get the feeling that people might celebrate his death in the streets for a completely different reason.

Max previously shared a first look for The Penguin on April 12, 2023, and it was just as shadowy and gravel-voiced as you’d imagine. In the “in-production” teaser, Academy Award nominee Colin Farrell is decidedly not nice as the trigger-happy “kingpin of Gotham.” “Step out of line, even once, I’ll gut you like a goddamn fish,” he says of his natural prey. So it’s a good thing he’s completely unrecognizable under that penguin suit.

Who’s in the cast?

Colin Farrell will return as the Penguin, while Cristin Milioti will play Sofia Falcone. Per Deadline, Clancy Brown will recur as rival mob boss Salvatore Maroni, while Variety reports that Michael Zegen will play Sofia’s brother, Alberto Falcone. Michael Kelly confirmed to The Wrap that he will round out the Falcone crime family as underboss Johnny Vitti. Marvel’s Runaways star Rhenzy Feliz will join the DC Universe in a currently unnamed role. The only other cast members that have been announced so far are Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, James Madio, Scott Cohen, Theo Rossi, Carmen Ejogo, François Chau, David H. Holmes, Craig Walker, and Jared Abarahmson — all playing yet-to-be-revealed characters. However, it seems altogether possible that John Turturro, who played Carmine Falcone in The Batman, could be back, or even Kravitz as Selina Kyle.

When’s it coming out?

The teaser trailer promises that it’s coming in fall 2024. For now, more specific details fall under the “no idea” category. Farrell has confirmed that the show was set to start production in February 2023, which was luckily unaffected by a recent shift in leadership. Basically, since it’s not part of the mainline, Snyder-verse, Affleck-ed DC Universe, the fact that there are new heads of DC Studios should not affect this particular show. Any further information is currently a riddle (Paul Dano’s version).

This post has been updated.

Max’s The Penguin Rises