CABLE | Colin Farrell Transforms Into 'The Penguin' on HBO

"I always thought you were capable of more."

Warner Bros. Television / DC Studios

Produced by The Batman director Matt Reeves, his The Penguin television spin-off miniseries once again stars an unrecognizable Colin Farrell (heavily made-up with extensive prosthetics) as the eponymous comic book supervillain named pejoratively after the aquatic flightless bird. Set in the immediate aftermath of the events of Reeves' 2022 film, we follow Farrell's Oz Cobb (renamed from "Oswald Cobblepot" in the comics) as he takes advantage of Gotham City's criminal power vacuum.

How Oz upends the Falcone and Maroni organized crime families provides an intriguing throughline into the corruptible elements of Gotham as a setting for chaos. Created by showrunner Lauren LeFranc and primarily directed by Craig Zobel, the next villain-focused chapter of the vigilante superhero saga squares in on its underworld element at war in response to the Dark Knight's recent appearance.

Cristin Milioti and Rhenzy Feliz co-star as low-lives at opposite ends of the city's power structure who come into both conflict and mutual benefit to Oz. Their characters heighten Farrell's transformative performance. Milioti, in particular, is devilishly unhinged as Sofia (aka "The Hangman"), the natural inheritor of the Falcone empire cast aside. Feliz as an outcast Robin-type acts as our audience surrogate in this grimy world.

LeFranc turns The Penguin into a complex crime tale told at street level without the Batman himself. Like a gothic take on The Sopranos only set within a rainy corner of the DC Comics universe, the miniseries charts a clear path to set up the underworld workings of the broken Gotham City resembling its depiction in the comics in a prestige television format. It naturally embraces its pulpy material.

The Penguin's eight-episode season airs weekly on HBO and is available to stream on Crave in Canada (and on Max in the U.S.).


More | YVArcade / Indiewire / Inverse / Polygon