The Penguin: trailer, everything we know about The Batman spinoff

Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot in The Penguin
Colin Farrell, The Penguin (Image credit: Macall Polay/Max)

Colin Farrell dazzled audiences with his portrayal of Oswald Cobblepot, aka Penguin, in The Batman. It's not surprising that a spinoff was ordered that is called, appropriately, The Penguin

The Penguin is set in the same cinematic universe as Matt Reeves' The Batman, which features Robert Pattinson in the iconic role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. The spinoff series was greenlit long before a leadership change at Max led to the arrival of James Gunn and Peter Safran, who have their own plans for the DC Universe. As such, the series is considered to be part of an else-verse, a story that's set in its own time and has nothing to do with the series and movies that Gunn and Safran are developing as part of their world-building strategy. 

Farrell's Penguin isn't a fully-fledged supervillain in the series, at least not yet. For now, he's a gritty crime boss who's more James Gandolfini than Burgess Meredith. 

Here's everything we know about The Penguin

The Penguin release date

We don't have a specific release date for The Penguin just yet, but we do know that the series is expected to be released on Max in the fall. 

The series will be available exclusively on Max, so you'll need a subscription in order to watch it. You can choose from one of the Max subscription options below if you don’t have a subscription already. You can subscribe as a standalone service or add it to a Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV or Sling TV package.

The Penguin plot

Here's what we know about The Penguin from Max: "The eight-episode DC Studios drama series continues The Batman epic crime saga that filmmaker Matt Reeves began with Warner Bros. Pictures’ global blockbuster The Batman, and centers on the character played by Colin Farrell in the film."

The Penguin cast

The Penguin features Academy Award nominee Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin, Intermission, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) as Oswald Cobblepot. 

The series also stars Cristin Milioti (The Wolf of Wall Street) as Sofia Falcone, Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption) as Salvatore Maroni, Rhenzy Felix (Encanto) as Victor Aguilar, Craig Walker (High Town) as Detective Marcus Wise and Myles Humphus (Reminiscence) as Dom Gigante. 

The Penguin trailer

Take a look at the first teaser for The Penguin below:

Previously, Max released a teaser in April 2023 that featured a first look at The Penguin as it went into production. It wasn't long after that when the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild strikes shut down the set, pushing the series release date back. Take a look at the In-Production trailer below:

Sarabeth Pollock
Editorial Content Producer

 

Sarabeth joined the What to Watch team in May 2022. An avid TV and movie fan, her perennial favorites are The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, true crime documentaries on Netflix and anything from Passionflix. You’ve Got Mail, Ocean's Eleven and Signs are movies that she can watch all day long. She's also a huge baseball fan, and hockey is a new favorite.  

When she's not working, Sarabeth hosts the My Nights Are Booked Podcast and a blog dedicated to books and interviews with authors and actors. She also published her first novel, Once Upon an Interview, in 2022.