MANILA, Philippines — The showrunners of the HBO Original limited series “The Penguin” revealed that lead star Colin Farrell served as one of the inspirations for the show's creation.
Farrell’s portrayal of Oz Cobb, a.k.a. The Penguin, first captivated audiences in Warner Bros. Pictures’ 2022 global blockbuster “The Batman” starring Robert Pattinson. But in this new DC Studios series, which continues Matt Reeves’ epic crime saga in the lead-up to “The Batman II” in 2026, viewers will see a much deeper dive into the psyche of this villain.
The show, executive-produced by Reeves, Farrell, Dylan Clark and Lauren LeFranc (who’s also writer and showrunner), explores not just the crime-filled ambition of Oz, but also the deeply rooted weaknesses and emotional scars that drive his villainy as the Penguin.
During a recent virtual interview with the international press, including The STAR, LeFranc recalled Farrell’s first reaction when this series was first pitched to him: “He was shooting ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ and so he was in Ireland at the time when we first met (via Zoom). I pitched him just the backstory for Oz and the whole character arc, which is really what we have shot and what is in our show.
“He was part of the inspiration to do this. When he was on the set of ‘The Batman,’ he went up to Matt Reeves and Dylan Clark, the producer, and said, 'I would love to do more. Like, I really am inspired to be inside of this very twisted man,’” she added.
And so, here they are.
The Penguin as villain and protagonist
Besides Farrell, the eight-episode “The Penguin” also stars Cristin Milioti (Sofia Falcone), Rhenzy Feliz (Victor Aguilar), Michael Kelly (Johnny Viti), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Nadia Maroni), Deirdre O’Connell (Francis Cobb), Clancy Brown (Salvatore Maroni), James Madio (Milos Grapa), Scott Cohen (Luca Falcone), Michael Zegen (Alberto Falcone), Carmen Ejogo (Eve Karlo) and Theo Rossi (Dr. Julian Rush).
Asked about her approach to a series centered on a character who's always been a villain but gets to be the protagonist of his own story, LeFranc said, “I've come from an angle of trying to depict him as just a complicated, dark soul of a person and to make sure that it doesn't feel like there's any definitive heroes or villains on the show.
“So for me, I start by asking myself questions about who this man is, what drives him, what motivates him, and why he wants power. So much of it is built on his relationship with his mother (Francis Cobb) and wanting to make her proud of him. And he wants reverence. He wants respect from the larger community and those people.
“He's also a narcissist. His worldview is very specific and a little tainted. As we unravel him throughout the course of (eight) episodes, we'll get to dig deeper into his psychology and start to unpack more of who this man really is.”
In a separate Zoom chat, Reeves said that the series doesn’t merely track the Penguin’s rise to power but also goes into his internal struggles. “This story is not just a narrative about how he begins that path toward becoming the kingpin we all know the Penguin becomes, but it’s really about the internal parts of that character — who he is, what kind of rage, what kind of wounds, what void he needs to fill that will never be filled.
“He's always going to be unhappy. He's always going to be angry. He's always going to be just raging, no matter what… And that was our intent — to look at how this kind of crime story is really about the internal.”
For him, this exploration of Penguin’s complexity, where his villainy is not just about power and ambition that knows no bounds but also emotional wounds and feelings of “inadequacy,” is part of what makes this series unique.
“In a way, the most illuminating part of this guy grabbing for power is the weakness within. That’s what we tried to do — tell the story of where those weaknesses are, where they came from, and what that's about, and the tragedy of that as well,” said Reeves.
Meanwhile, when Colin debuted as The Penguin in “The Batman,” he was a scene-stealer and larger-than-life character despite only appearing in seven scenes. He was a gangster chasing the American dream with ambitions of power and reverence. In the series version, viewers will delve more into Oz’s emotional and psychological goals.
“Because he's a known marquee character called the Penguin from the Batman canon, done from our movie, we have the ability to take that character and do a real long-form, detailed exploration that helps us get people excited,” Dylan said.
“But on the flip side, we have to do it justice — we have to do a real emotional, truthful and authentic exploration of characters that exist in this world.”
Reeves also believes that with LeFranc’s writing and Farrell’s portrayal, audiences could see themselves in Oz, making the show a “much more interesting, dramatic experience.”
“We wanted the story — and we tried to do that in ‘The Batman,’ too — to be told with empathy. The show only works if there’s insight. This guy is going to do unspeakable things. Why?” he said.
“The potential for that darkness is in all of us. It’s just that in his case, the wounds are so deep that he can’t stop himself and he goes further than he should.
“The opportunity to do this on HBO or streaming in a long form allows us to dig into the whys and do a psychological story. That’s what we were excited to do.”
Colin as ‘force of nature’
Reeves particularly praised Farrell’s dedication to breathing life into Penguin, calling the actor "an absolute force of nature.”
He also believes that the actor's performance could elevate the character to the same iconic status as other Batman villains like Heath Ledger's Joker.
“I believe he occupies that kind of place because his performance is that special, that transportive,” he said.
“It certainly comes from what Lauren did in writing the show, but I would say… Colin Farrell played this character so beautifully and powerfully that I do think he’s carved out a space where this character will be seen in a way that’s never been seen before.”
During the early stages of shaping the character of Penguin, Farrell collaborated closely with Reeves and makeup artist Mike Marino. The producers recalled how, after the makeup and prosthetics were applied, he sent them a cellphone video.
“Matt and I received a cell phone video from Colin once he was in that makeup, and it was a character we hadn’t quite seen before. The voice had changed, the posture had changed, the body language… It was right in that moment,” Clark said.
“What was great about Colin was that he fell so madly in love with that character exploration, but he didn’t get enough to do in our movie. Matt had some great ideas for a sequel, and if we were lucky enough to have a movie people wanted to see, he wanted to keep going. And so, the show idea was hatched.”
Reeves, for his part, said that “there’s been a crazy evolution” with Farrell from the moment he said “okay, I’ll go on this journey with you.”
His transformation into the Penguin wasn’t just a matter of makeup and prosthetics — it was a full-body transformation. “The experience of him putting that makeup on — Colin Farrell is an incredibly handsome man — and to suddenly be freed of his physicality, it was like he was born in that moment,” Reeves said.
“When Dylan talks about that video we received, the character, as you see him in the show and as you saw him in the movie, it was like he was found and born in that moment. Something clicked into place.
“It went from Colin saying, ‘I should play the character,’ to him asking us, ‘Can you put me in more scenes? Can you write me more scenes? I want to do this more,’ because something in him was unleashed.”
Reeves couldn’t help but admit that he feels like he knows Oz more than Farrell himself. "It’s a very weird experience that we've had doing both the movie and show. It takes so long for Colin to get into the makeup. I know Colin, he's a really beautiful person and he’s been really good to me as a friend. But the truth is, I've seen him so much more as Penguin, as Oz, that I know Colin as Oz more than Colin out of makeup," he said.
But he goes beyond the surface with a performance that fully inhabits the Penguin.
"I really do believe there is a different being that is Colin as Oz,” Reeves stressed. “He is just another presence that’s really, really extraordinary.”
“The Penguin” is available on HBO and HBO GO, with new episodes of the eight-episode series airing every Monday.