The Penguin

With the city in peril following the seawall's collapse, Oswald "Oz" Cobb seeks to fill the power vacuum left by the death of Carmine Falcone and finally give his mother Francis the life he's always promised. But first, Oz must confront his enemies and his own demoralizing reputation as "the Penguin."

ReleaseTBA

StatusTBA

NetworkHBO

Why it matters

The Batman spin-off that turned a supporting villain into an award-winning crime drama in its own right.

About The Penguin

Spun off from Matt Reeves' The Batman, The Penguin gives a supporting villain a full crime drama and never once cuts away to the hero. Colin Farrell returns as Oswald Cobb under hours of prosthetics, clawing at territory that Carmine Falcone is no longer alive to hold, in a Gotham still pumping itself dry. Showrunner Lauren LeFranc shaped the eight episodes closer to a mob saga than to a comic-book show, built around the distance between how Oz sees himself and what everyone else sees walking through the door.

Whether there is more of it is genuinely unsettled. HBO has not formally ordered a second season. Network chief Casey Bloys has called the situation complicated while saying everyone involved would like to solve it, and Farrell himself has said he is in no rush. So the date is still to be confirmed, and for now so is the season. What is scheduled is Farrell's return as the character in Reeves' film sequel, currently set for October 2027. The first season closes cleanly enough to watch on its own.

DramaCrime