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Oswald Cobblepot is finally stepping into the spotlight.
Warner Bros. Discovery has just released the first trailer for “The Penguin,” a spin-off series centered on Colin Farrell’s portrayal of the infamous Gotham City gangster from the 2022 hit film “The Batman.” This reveal was part of the company’s presentation for its streaming service, Max, which merges HBO Max and Discovery+.
“The Penguin,” currently in production, is set to span eight episodes. Following the events of “The Batman,” where Paul Dano’s Riddler kills Carmine Falcone and floods Gotham’s downtown, the city is left in chaos. This creates a power vacuum in Gotham’s underworld, setting the stage for Farrell’s Cobblepot to rise.
Joining Farrell in the cast are Cristin Milioti as Carmine’s daughter Sofia Falcone, Michael Zegen as Carmine’s son Alberto Falcone, and Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, a former top gangster in Gotham. The ensemble also includes Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Carmen Ejogo, François Chau, and David H. Holmes.
Lauren LeFranc, known for “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” serves as the executive producer and showrunner. “The Batman” writer-director Matt Reeves is also an executive producer through his company 6th & Idaho. Craig Zobel, who directed “Mare of Easttown,” is directing the first three episodes. Other executive producers include Farrell, Dylan Clark, Daniel Pipski, and Bill Carraro, with Ravi Crohn as co-executive producer. Warner Bros. Television is the studio behind the series.
Max is set to launch in France this summer, with Warner Bros. Discovery confirming a European rollout starting May 21. The service will go live in France before the Paris Olympics in July. JB Perrette, WBD’s head of global streaming and games, announced this at the Series Mania TV festival in Lille, France. The service will offer basic, standard, and premier tiers.
Max’s European content will combine HBO and Discovery+ offerings, including live-streamed and on-demand sports from WBD’s Eurosport channel, covering events like the Olympic Games, Grand Slam tennis, and the Tour de France. WBD is also expanding its French content, presenting local-language scripted shows such as the crime thriller “Malditos,” the psychological thriller “Black Lies,” and an adaptation of the memoir “Living With Our Deeds.”
During the presentation, Perrette also premiered the trailer for “The Penguin” and two trailers for the second season of “House of the Dragon,” set to premiere on June 16.
HBO shows, which previously aired exclusively on French pay-TV service Canal+, switched to Orange before their contract expired last year. Canal+ and Orange are no longer competitors, as Vivendi-owned Canal+ Group received conditional regulatory approval to acquire Orange’s film and TV unit Orange Studio and OCS in January.
Max enters a competitive streaming market in France, with Canal+/Orange services reaching about 11 million subscribers, comparable to market leader Netflix. Amazon Prime, Disney+, and AppleTV+ are also present, with Paramount+ launching soon.
Outside the U.S., Max is available in Latin America and the Caribbean. WBD plans to roll out the service across 22 European countries with HBO Max this spring, including the Nordics, Iberia, and Central and Eastern Europe on May 21. Launches in Poland, the Netherlands, France, and Belgium will follow.
After the initial European rollouts, WBD plans to expand to key Asia Pacific territories in late 2024 and further territories in 2025. Perrette emphasized that Warner Bros. is just beginning its streaming journey, aiming to surpass 50 percent market penetration in the coming years.
No specific launch dates have been given for the UK, Italy, or Germany, where HBO has long-term content deals with Sky.
“The Penguin” is an upcoming American limited series created by Lauren LeFranc for Max. Based on the DC Comics character Penguin, it is a spin-off from “The Batman” (2022) that delves into the Penguin’s rise in Gotham City’s criminal underworld. The series is produced by 6th & Idaho, DC Studios, and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, with LeFranc as showrunner.
Colin Farrell reprises his role as the Penguin, alongside Cristin Milioti. Development began in September 2021, with LeFranc attached as writer and Farrell soon set to reprise his role. HBO Max ordered the series shortly after the film’s March 2022 release, and Craig Zobel joined to direct the first three episodes in October. Filming began in March 2023 in New York but was suspended in June due to the Writers Guild of America strike, resuming in late November and wrapping in February 2024.
“The Penguin” is scheduled to debut in the U.S. on Max in September 2024, consisting of eight episodes. The series takes place one week after the events of “The Batman,” exploring Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot’s rise to power in Gotham City’s criminal underworld.
