The Penguin Series Began Life as The Batman 2

With The Batman just a day away from release, director Matt Reeves has divulged some interesting information regarding the upcoming spinoff series centered on The Penguin. In an interview with Variety, Reeves revealed that the idea behind the HBO Max series began life as an idea for The Batman 2 before the studio decided instead to give the supervillain gangster his own show.

According to the piece, Reeves “mentioned offhand to some studio executives that he thought a second “Batman” movie could focus on how Oz became a crime kingpin.” But rather than use this idea for a sequel to The Batman, the studio felt that the rise of The Penguin would be better suited to a television series. “And they were like, ‘Oh, we want to do that as a show,’” Reeves said.

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So, that likely means that we can consider The Penguin series to be the unofficial The Batman 2 for now, until an official sequel is announced. While details of The Penguin series remain largely unknown, this information at least reconfirms that the HBO Max show will take place after the events of The Batman, and explore the evolution of Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobblepot from cowed nobody to the ruthless kingpin of crime that DC fans all know and love.

Director Matt Reeves has previously revealed a few more details concerning his approach to The Penguin series, comparing the project to the Al Pacino classic, Scarface. “I said [to HBO Max], ‘To be honest with you, the thing that was going to be the seeds of what I thought the next story could be in terms of the Penguin is that I saw there being this kind of ‘American dream in Gotham’ sort of story, almost like Scarface; the rise of this character who we all know will achieve mythic status,’” Reeves revealed. “He is underestimated and he’s like a time bomb… They were like, ‘Oh my God, we’re in!’ And that was really exciting because, by that point, Colin had already given life to this character.”

The Penguin is just one of several spinoffs of The Batman currently in development, with a show focused on Gotham PD also in the works. “It will obviously have a lot to do with how people receive this film,” Reeves explained when discussing the making of a franchise off the back of The Batman. “But a lot of things are in the works.”

Audiences Will See The Batman 2 Within the Next Few Years

Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films

As for an actual sequel to The Batman, producer Dylan Clark has now gone on record stating that the movie will hit theaters within the next few years. “I will go on record and say that it will be less than five years,” Clark said confidently.

Starring Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell, The Batman is set in The Dark Knight’s second year of fighting crime and sees Batman uncover corruption in Gotham City while pursuing the Riddler, a serial killer who targets Gotham’s elite.

The Batman will be theatrically released on March 4. The Penguin and other spinoffs do not yet have release dates, but will stream exclusively on HBO Max.

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Jonathan Fuge
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Film Fanatic. Movie Maniac. Asserting his opinion wherever he goes, whether it is warranted or not. Writing for www.movieweb.com since 2019. Follow me @ https://twitter.com/FugitiveJon.

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