Colin Farrell is currently on the awards circuit touting his Venice-winning performance in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” but next up for the actor is a project of upmost importance to fans: HBO Max‘s “The Penguin.” The sequel series to Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” will start filming in early 2023. Farrell recently confirmed to Extra that the show picks up about a week after the events of “The Batman,” in which Riddler sent a massive flood into Gotham City.
“It starts about a week after ‘The Batman’ ends,” Farrell said. “So, Gotham is still, somewhat, underwater. I read the first script of the first episode and it opens up on my feet splashing through the water in Falcone’s office. Even that alone, when I read it, I was like,‘Oh, Jesus!’
“It’s lovely. It’s so well-written,” Farrell added. “Lauren LeFranc has done such an extraordinary job, and she’s writing the whole thing and show-running. She is formidable. It’s just an exciting prospect. I love that character. I was greedy with it. I felt like I didn’t have enough. I wanted to do it more and more and more.”
Farrell earned acclaim for his debut as Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot in “The Batman,” but his screen time was limited. The film was a box office success with $770 million worldwide and is getting an official sequel, but the Farrell-starring “The Penguin” series will be first out the gate in terms of “The Batman” follow-up projects.
“I read the first episode, which is just so tasty and so unusual as the character was on the page and what Matt Reeves kind of envisioned when he was thinking of this iteration of the bang up of Oz,” Farrell told Collider in a separate interview. “So yeah, it’ll be, I think six or eight hours. I’m supposed to read episode two and three within the next week.”
Plot details for “The Penguin” are being kept under wraps. The show does not yet have an official release date. Farrell fans can next see him in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” opening in theaters Oct. 21.
