The spinoff series to The Batman is going to show us another side of Gotham

The live-action world of DC Comics is right in the middle of a transition period as we move from the old shared universe that began with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel into a new one that will kick off next summer with James Gunn's Superman. In the middle of all that, we have The Penguin, an upcoming Max original series that will focus on Colin Farrell's villain character from 2022's The Batman. 

That film always kinda existed in its own little bubble, just as when Batman was its own separate franchise for most of the character's on-screen history — and so The Penguin, likewise, isn't really affected by all that corporate upheaval that's been going on. So there's no greater franchise to worry about — it's just The Batman and now The Penguin in this fledgling series that will land on Max later this year.

The Penguin's premiere date

The Penguin doesn't yet have a specific date yet for its series premiere on Max, but the plan is to launch the series in September 2024 and release new episodes on a weekly basis. There will be eight episodes in total for this season.

The Penguin trailer

Since production wrapped on The Penguin in February, we've gotten a couple teasers. Here's the most recent one.

The Penguin's story and plot

The Penguin, naturally, will focus on Oswald Cobblepot himself as he attempts to make his own play for power in the wake of the death of Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) in The Batman. The Penguin picks up just days after the events of the film, while Gotham is still in shambles and all the criminal elements in the city compete to fill the void left by Falcone's death. That includes Falcone's daughter, Sofia, who wants to make her own play for power. 

If it sounds like The Penguin is a direct continuation of The Batman's story, that's because it is. But this is a show about the Penguin, not Batman, and Oswald is the only character from The Batman who's confirmed to also be on this series. (Though The Penguin will serve as a bridge to a future Robert Pattinson-starring Batman movie, currently planned for 2026.)

While The Batman director Matt Reeves is receiving only a producer's credit for The Penguin and didn't direct any episodes, the grungy, noir-esque aesthetic of The Penguin is clearly based on Reeves' film. So there's certainly a throughline with the vibe as well as the story.

The Penguin is being billed as a limited series, and thus may only have this one run of episodes. But that label has been used a lot lately for shows that had multiple seasons, so it's not the most trustworthy term and may not mean anything. (If the ratings are bonkers for The Penguin, you can bet Max will make another season.) And with a proper sequel to The Batman not slated until October 2026, there's enough time for another season of The Penguin before then if Warner Bros. wanted to go for it.

The Penguin cast and crew

Colin Farrell reprises the role he held in The Batman, complete with drastic makeup transformation that had to have been a real pain to deal with. Beyond Farrell, the list of actors in The Penguin doesn't quite have the same star power as the cast of The Batman, but Warner Bros. has assembled a really excellent group of old pro character actors for The Penguin. Keep your eye on Clancy Brown and Shohreh Aghdashloo as Salvatore and Nadia Maroni — that's gonna be a fun pairing.

• Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin
• Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone
• Michael Kelly as Falcone underboss Johnny Vitti
• Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni
• Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni
• Rhenzy Feliz as Oswald's childhood friend and driver
• Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo

Will Batman show up on The Penguin?

Robert Pattinson is not listed among the cast of The Penguin, and that makes it fairly unlikely that Batman will appear in any sort of substantial role. A cameo appearance or two is possible, however, and it's likely that he'll be operating in the background of the story to some degree. It's a "never say never but also don't get your hopes up" sort of situation.

Is The Penguin part of James Gunn's new DC Universe?

Like Joker before it, The Batman was always planned to be its own thing separate from the DC Extended Universe of movies, and so it and The Penguin exist in their own bubble, unaffected by corporate machinations. In theory.

But in truth, we don't really understand anything about Gunn's long-term plans for DC, and we probably won't learn anything until we see his Superman film next summer. Despite that, Peacemaker Season 2 will be a part of the new universe, and feature characters from that Superman film, despite Season 1 being in the old DC universe. We could be looking at some kind of in-universe reboot, like how the comics have done it several times across DC's history. 

With The Penguin launching many months before Superman, though, it might be a while until we have some answers about that.

How to watch The Batman

The Batman, along with the previous live-action Batman movies, are all available to watch on Max.