This Sunday, HBO will air the finale of The Penguin, a spinoff of 2022's The Batman that follows Oswald Cobb (Colin Farrell) as he rises through the ranks Gotham City's criminal underworld. I wasn't expecting a ton from a show based on Batman's third or fourth most famous villains, but I've been enthralled along with the rest of the viewing public. Ratings for the penultimate episode were the best yet, and I expect people to turn the finale into an event. The fan theories are all over the place, from Oz killing his own mother to Vic becoming the sadistic villain Victor Zsasz. It's always a good sign when people are speculating wildly about what's going to happen next; it means they're interested.
With this much buzz around the show, is Warner Bros. Discovery already lining up another season? We can't rule it out, but The Penguin may be designed as a one-and-done kind of show. We know the Penguin himself will go on to have a role in The Batman: Part II, which is scheduled to come out in 2026. Depending on how that movie goes, who knows if he'll even be alive for a follow-up season?
Still, anything's possible, and The Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc told The Direct that they would consider doing another season if they think they can make the show even better: "I think that in order to do a second season, we have to feel like we can top ourselves," she said. "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."
"It's been a joy to write them, even though they're twisted and complicated and weird and darkly funny. So look, I think Gotham City is just such a fun sandbox to play, and I'd love to keep playing in it, but I think it just has to be the right thing. We should never do anything just to do it."
For the record, Farrell has also said he's open to doing another season of The Penguin, although he'd need some time away to remember what life was like when he isn't covered in heavy layers of prosthetic makeup. Anyway, LeFranc is saying all the right things, but matters could get complicated as LeFranc, The Batman director Matt Reeves, and executives at WBD try to service a growing use of shows and movies set in this world, which Reeves has taken to calling the Batman Epic Crime Saga. So far they're doing a solid job; they get the benefit of the doubt from me.
I don't know if we'll get another season of The Penguin, but Reeves has openly mulled the idea of more TV spinoffs for Batman villains. Episode director Craig Zobel even got specific, saying he'd like to see a show about Poison Ivy, who hasn't yet appeared in this version the Batman universe. If it's as high-quality as The Penguin, I'll be there.
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