If you never saw The Batman, Matt Reeves’ well-received reboot of the world’s greatest detective, it was a way grittier and darker version of DC’s famous character than we’ve seen in ages, on-screen at least.
One of its fun little side moments involved an explosive car chase with Colin Farrell’s sneering, scarred imagining of Oswald Cobblepot, otherwise known as The Penguin, and the character is getting a full-on sequel series to continue the new franchise.
The Penguin starts on HBO’s Max streaming service in September and just got its most detailed trailer yet, which you can watch below.
It’s an exciting look at what promises to be a grimy crime serial with only minor comic book stylings – centring around the power void that might have been left by the fall of the Falcone family’s head honcho in The Batman.
Cobblepot is looking to take advantage, and the show seems like it’ll delve much further into what motivates him as he tries to manoeuvre his way to more power. Reassuringly, though, there’s clearly going to be a lot of action, too, given the number of explosions the teaser trailer features.
It’s also clear that the Falcone family won’t go quietly, with multiple heirs and players trying to cement themselves as the successor to its empire, so we’re hopefully going to get a twisty criminal tale.
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Farrell looks like he’s having great fun, too, under a mountain of prosthetics to give him a lumpish face and that all-important hooked nose, rendering him just as unrecognisable as he was in the movie.
The show also looks like it might be pretty gorgeous, just like Reeves’ movie was, all film-grain and naturalistic lighting – the sort of thing you’ll want one of the best OLED TVs out there to watch with.
The big downside to all this for most people is that it’s coming to HBO’s Max platform as an exclusive, which will probably make for a complicated roll-out in different countries. Max isn’t exactly the best streaming service to use right now, but it doesn’t even exist here in the UK – for UK viewers Sky has picked up the rights, but when that’ll stream is to be confirmed.
There are a few months to go before The Penguin starts streaming, though, so there’s plenty of time for its international distribution to become clearer. Here’s hoping for a same-month release though.
