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HBO Max Developing “The Penguin”

The Penguin

Although we are still a few months out from the release of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, it has already been revealed that HBO Max are developing a spin-off TV show called; The Penguin.

Believe it or not, it has now been over a year since we saw that first Batman trailer for the new movie following the early days of The Dark Knight. That also means that it has been a full year since we first laid eyes on the unrecognisable Colin Farrell playing this universe’s version of Oswald Cobblepot, AKA The Penguin.

Now, it looks like Farrell will have to don that false nose once again if a new report from Variety is to be believed. Apparently this spin-off series based around the infamous fishy villain is already in the early stages of development over at Warner Bros studios and it is being developed for the HBO Max streaming service.

It should be noted that although Farrell is reportedly currently negotiating to reprise the titular role for the spin-off series, a deal has not yet been made between the studio and the actor. The planned show would follow The Penguin building a powerful empire within the underworld of Gotham City.

It was also mentioned in the report that Lauren LeFranc is in talks to work on the script for the series. Her past credits include Agents of SHIELD and Impulse. Matt Reeves would also serve as an executive producer on the series as well as another producer of The Batman, Dylan Clark.

In the past, we have seen The Penguin in live action form a handful of times, namely with Robin Lord Taylor’s memorable performance as the villain on the Fox show Gotham, as well as the iconic Danny DeVito playing him in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. However, Farrell’s version looks to be a very different and more realistic version of the character compared to anything that we have seen so far, which is what intrigues me the most about this potential series.

This version of the character only appears in the film’s trailer for a few short seconds, however based on this brief glimpse and the behind-the-scenes set photos that have dropped online, it is clear that Farrell is under heavy prosthetics. I wonder if this is what is causing the actor to have some trepidation about accepting the lead role in what could be a long-running TV series.

“I’ve worked with that makeup artist before and it’s just incredible,” said Jeffrey Wright, who will be this universe’s Commissioner Jim Gordon. He did an interview last year with SiriusXM, where he stated; “Colin walked on to set one day and I walked right passed him [laughs] I was like ‘ok, hey dude what’s happening? Where’s Colin? Are we going to shoot.’ It was, it’s pretty remarkable.”

What do you make of the idea of HBO Max developing a spin-off series based on The Penguin? Let us know in the comments down below.


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Daniel Boyd

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Daniel is a 26-year-old writer from Glasgow. He loves sci-fi and hates fantasy. He also hates referring to himself in the third person and thinks that bios are dumb.

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