Comic-Con turned into Gotham City for DC’s “The Penguin” panel at Hall H.
Star Colin Farrell couldn’t attend the panel in person, but he joined via Zoom for a panel on the “Batman” spinoff series. He was joined by director Matt Reeves, co-stars Cristin Milioti and Rhenzy Feliz, makeup designer Mike Marino and executive producer Dylan Clark.
The new trailer shows Farrell’s Penguin shooting and stabbing his way to power in the crime-filled streets of Gotham. He’s seen firing uzis at cars and controlling the flow of drugs in his Iceberg Lounge club. Sofia Falcone (Milioti), the daughter of late crime boss Carmine Falcone, is out of Arkham Asylum and ready to take on Penguin for control of Gotham.
Related Stories
“The world ain’t set up for the honest man to succeed,” he says in the trailer. “America is a hustle.”
Popular on Variety
Farrell praised Marino’s prosthetics designs to help him transform into the Penguin. Marino said that the overweight, scarred-face look of Penguin was inspired by Harvey Weinstein and injured birds.
“Oz really is someone who never got to be seen. His personality is wanting. It’s wanting to be something more than he is,” Marino said on stage, noting he’s worked with Farrell before. “I always thought he had the best face for makeup. He’s got a small nose. When you do makeup, you add to a person’s face. You can’t take away. He’s got the best canvas.”
“The Penguin” is set to premiere on HBO on September 19 and run for eight episodes. Farrell reprises his shocking, villainous transformation from Reeves’ “The Batman” for the spinoff series, which takes place a week after the film’s story ends.
The series follows Oz Cobb, aka the Penguin, a crime lord with a penchant for deadly umbrellas who’s a major player in Gotham City’s crime underworld. It tracks his exploits after the ending of “The Batman” as the Penguin rises to power in the city’s seedy underbelly. Farrell’s prosthetics-heavy performance in “The Batman” was praised by critics and comic book fans alike.
“The Penguin” cast includes Milioti as Sofia Falcone; Feliz as Penguin’s young driver Victor Aguilar; Michael Kelly as Falcone crime family boss Johnny Vitti; Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni; Deirdre O’Connell as Francis Cobb; Clancy Brown as mob boss Salvatore Maroni; James Madio as Milos Grapa; Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone; Michael Zegen as Carmine’s son Alberto Falcone; Theo Rossi as Julian Rush; and Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo.
In the ending of 2022’s “The Batman,” the Riddler’s (Paul Dano) master plan succeeds and he destroys the seawall surrounding Gotham with a series of bombs. The city is flooded with water, but Robert Pattinson’s Batman is able to capture the villain and save mayor-elect Bella Reál from Riddler’s assassins. The Penguin manages to escape the wreckage, and there is now a power vacuum in Gotham’s crime syndicate with John Turturro’s mob boss Carmine Falcone killed by Riddler.
Watch the trailer below.
