The Penguin will have to dial back the profanity when he returns in The Batman: Part II

The Penguin is almost done with its first season on HBO, and it's been a thrilling ride. I'd go so far as to say that I prefer this show to The Batman, the 2022 movie from which it's been spun off. And I liked The Batman, but The Penguin has dug into the darker corners of Gotham City in ways that I've found really compelling.

After The Penguin wraps up, Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) will return in The Batman: Part II, which is scheduled to come out in 2026. Obviously, he'll be a villain there rather than the main character like he is on his solo show. That'll be fun to see, although he won't be quite as no-holds-barred as he is on HBO. Matt Reeves, who directed The Batman and who's in charge of building out this greater Batman universe, explained that they could do some things on HBO that they can't do at the movies.

"It’s interesting because in a Batman movie, there are resources that are tremendous, so we’re able to do quite grand things, but we are handcuffed in other ways," Reeves told The Batman star Andy Serkis during an exchange for Interview magazine. "When we were dealing with the ratings board, they were like, 'You got to pull that back and this back.' But with HBO, those handcuffs were removed. It gave us the ability to be really character-forward. Even just the way that Oz can be so deliciously profane. Now as we’re working on the movie, he can’t be quite as free with the profanity. There is a wonderful tone to the way Colin does it, so we have to find the right balance."

HBO is famous for allowing pretty much anything to happen on its shows, with nudity, violence and profanity all rampant; The Penguin includes all of that stuff. But The Batman was rated PG-13 and we expect The Batman: Part II to follow suit. So I'm not surprised that Oz will be less of a potty-mouth in the new movie, but I'm a little disappointed. I'm sure I'll miss his colorful verbiage.

The Batman director mulls future spinoff shows like The Penguin

Of course, it's always possible that Oz could return in a second season of The Penguin down the line, assuming he doesn't die in The Batman: Part II. At minimum, Reeves sounds like he and his team want to make more shows in the style of The Penguin, possibly fleshing out other Batman villains.

"We have been talking, and it’s exciting because people are now embracing the show," Reeves said. "My fantasy is coming into being, which is very exciting, and HBO has been incredibly supportive from the beginning. Now to see that the show is being embraced is really, really exciting. We have been talking about doing other shows. I wanted to make sure that we didn’t do the origin tale, which so many of the other series have done. I think the idea of being able to put a lens on these characters is a really exciting idea. It’s about cities and their dysfunction and the world and its dysfunction, which is what Batman stories are all about. They’re all about Gotham being a place that should be better. And you can have the experience of this almost novelistic epic crime saga, but you also just get these separate experiences. They have their own dramatic value. So Oz’s story is Oz’s story, and the idea is to do these other stories in the same way."

Not long ago, The Penguin director Craig Zobel said that he'd like to see a series about Batman villain Poison Ivy. If it's as good as The Penguin, I'll eagerly watch it. For now, the season finale of The Penguin airs this upcoming Sunday night on HBO and Max.

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