‘The Batman’ Penguin spinoff may have found a showrunner

Matt Reeves dropped a bad news bombshell on The Batman fans recently, when the director admitted that the spinoff focusing on the Gotham City Police Department is currently on hold.

That came as a surprise when the first HBO Max series was announced almost two years ago, but at least the filmmaker hinted that his GCPD story may have evolved into the Arkham Asylum-set project he’d been talking up during the press circuit, which would theoretically give audiences the best of both worlds.

The relentless expansion of The Batman universe is happening at a rapid rate, but we can safely assume that no unexpected setbacks will befall Colin Farrell’s in-development solo outing as Oswald Cobblepot. The actor seems surprisingly keen to be buried under the prosthetics once more, and the episodic crime story may have officially settled on a showrunner for good measure.

When the Penguin show was first announced, Lauren LeFranc was confirmed to be part of the writing staff, and she’s a sound fit for a heightened genre tale given her background and experience on the likes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hemlock Grove, and Impulse.

LeFranc has recently updated her bio on Twitter to reflect her newfound status, which states that she’s “Currently showrunner for The Penguin”. While that could certainly change between now and whenever cameras are slated to start rolling, it’s at least a strong indication that we won’t be hearing any unwanted updates about Farrell’s scenery-chewing secondary villain being placed on the developmental back burner.