When Colin Farrell was first confirmed to be joining Matt Reeves’ The Batman as Oswald Cobblepot, most fans initially speculated that the rebooted version of the Penguin was going to be a much different interpretation to what they’d become used to, given the actor’s noticeably handsome face and penchant for playing charming rogues.
However, when the first trailer was released, a lot of people didn’t notice that Farrell was even in it. After all, the 44 year-old is completely unrecognizable in the role, having been buried under prosthetics in order to portray a more comic book-accurate version of the iconic villain.
Plot details are tightly under wraps with production still ongoing close to a full year after it first started, but we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Ben Affleck would be returning as Batman in The Flash weeks before it was confirmed, and also that a Green Lantern show is coming to HBO Max – that the Golden Globe winner’s crime lord could end up getting his own spinoff.
According to our intel, Farrell’s Oz is set to become a recurring character in an expanding universe, one that’ll also include the HBO Max prequel series, which makes sense give that we know The Batman has already been pegged as an origin story of sorts for Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman. And the hope right now is to do more with the villain, including giving him his own film at some point in the future and bringing him back for future sequels.
Of course, Farrell tends to do his best work when the shackles are taken off, and if Reeves has let him put his own spin on the character no matter how minor his part ends up being in The Batman, then the Penguin could well go on to become an integral component of the franchise for years to come.