Despite being billed as a miniseries, The Penguin’s high ratings have opened the door to a potential season two.
Set in the same universe as 2022’s The Batman, the DC crime drama follows Oz Cobb’s rise to power in Gotham City’s criminal underworld.
Colin Farrell, who reprises his role from The Batman, takes the lead, alongside Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown, Carmen Ejogo and Michael Zegen.
The show is developed by Lauren LeFranc, while The Batman director Matt Reeves serves as an executive producer.
Has The Penguin season 2 been confirmed?
HBO has not officially announced whether The Penguin will return for a second season. The show was originally billed as a miniseries, setting up events for the upcoming sequel to The Batman, but the positive reception appears to have made a follow-up possible.
Cristin Milioti as Sofia in ‘The Penguin’ CREDIT: HBO/Warner Bros.
When could season 2 be released?
If HBO does go ahead with a second season, it likely won’t be released for a few years yet. The events of The Penguin were designed to set up The Batman: Part 2, which is scheduled to be released in October 2026, so any follow-up will probably be released after this date.
What has Colin Farrell said about returning?
While Colin Farrell appeared to be done with the role prior to The Penguin’s debut, remarking that he “fucking wanted it to be finished” due to the intense makeup required, it seems the actor has changed his tune in light of the show’s popularity.
Asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he’d return for a second season, Farrell said: “If there’s a great idea [for season two], and the writing was really muscular and as strong or stronger on the page than it was the first season, of course I would do it.”
He added: “For me, the bar for success is not very high. It’s, ‘do most people like it?’ – just the simplicity of that. I love being in things that are critically approved – it’s much better than the alternative – but I’ve been around long enough [to know] that it’s the audience who are really the most important critics.”
‘The Penguin’ CREDIT: HBO/Warner Bros.
Farrell elaborated on his stance during an interview with RadioTimes.com, where he said he would “absolutely” be up for returning.
“It was only ever envisioned as an eight-hour limited series, but it’s gone pretty well and I would imagine when things tend to go well, people tend to want to revisit them.”
Farrell added: “So if [The Batman director] Matt [Reeves] wants to do a second season, for sure, I’d consider it, yeah. [But] by the end of this I’d had my fill! I know I was bitching about not having enough in the first film, but I’m good now. I’ve been at the table long enough. It was amazing, but it’s quite a thing.”
What have the creators said about a potential season 2?
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, The Batman director Matt Reeves, who served as an executive producer on The Penguin, said they’re considering many ideas as to how another TV spin-off in this universe could play out.
“Everything is on the table,” Reeves said. “But at the end of the day, we feel like there are more stories to tell in this world. So me and [showrunner] Lauren and [producer Dylan Clark] and Colin [Farrell] are talking and we’re trying to figure out whatever it is, it has to dig into this in a way that feels earned the way this was.”
Showrunner Lauren LeFranc, meanwhile, echoed a similar sentiment to The Direct: “I mean, we put it all out on the table. I think that in order to do a second season, we have to feel like we can top ourselves. We have to feel like there’s something more there to really dig into. I mean, I really care about all these characters, even if they’re terrible people.”
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