Posted in: HBO, Max, TV | Tagged: the batman, The Penguin

The Penguin Episode 5 Preview: For Oz, It's One Down and One to Go

Sofia's brutal power move has Oz on the run in Showrunner Lauren LeFranc's Colin Farrell-starring The Penguin S01E05: "Homecoming."

After everything we witnessed about her "origin" story in the latest chapter of DC Studios, Showrunner Lauren LeFranc, and EPs Matt Reeves and Dylan Clark's Colin Farrell-starring The Penguin, you can't help but feel for Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone and the move she made to rid herself of some family nightmares. Now, we're getting a look back at what went into bringing S01E04: "Cent'Anni" (written by John McCutcheon and more than deserving of serious Emmy Awards consideration) from the pages to the screen – with a specific focus on Sofia's story. From there, we have a look ahead to the next chapter, with the promo for S01E05: "Homecoming" (written by Breannah Gibson and Shaye Ogbonna) showing Oz (Farrell) on the move to stay two steps ahead of Sofia. Oz might think that she did him a favor wiping out the Falcones, but will she let him live long enough to take advantage of it?

And here's a look at what's ahead with HBO's The Penguin in the weeks ahead – followed by a look back at what else we've learned about the spinoff series so far:

In the following four pages of the "Gotham Gazette" that were released ahead of the series premiere, fans were treated to a whole lot of backstory and easter eggs in terms of what's been going on in Gotham since the end of The Batman, and when The Penguin picks up – here's a look:

The Penguin: A Preview of "The Batman" Spinoff

"We're in Oz's world," LeFranc shared during an interview with EW ahead of SDCC 2024. "We're living in the underbelly of the city. Oz is a mover and a shaker. He can't always be trusted. He's very smart and very methodical, but he's also extremely impulsive. You can't predict what he's going to do." With the spinoff series set one week after the events of the Robert Pattinson-starring The Batman, the connections between the feature film and streaming series are pretty clear. But LeFranc notes that the series will also serve as a lead-in to the second film (expected in 2026). "We are the bridge between the two films. We're going almost directly into the second film Matt has planned," LeFranc added.

For Reeves, the vision of expanding "The Batman" universe came during writing on the film. "As we were writing the movie [The Batman], I was like, 'Hey, you know what? I think there are some cool shows that we could do. It was actually why I wanted to make our deal at Warner Bros." In fact, Reeves notes in the interview that some elements from the original Gotham PD project made their way into The Penguin – and the team isn't done yet. "There's another television exploration we're going to do," Clark revealed. "We're looking at this entire world as it relates to who Batman is — the antagonists around them, all the crime that has to be navigated in the city — and trying to figure out where are the areas that are best to explore."

The HBO Original series stars Farrell as Oz Cobb (aka "The Penguin"), along with 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), Theo Rossi (Dr. Julian Rush) and Mark Strong (Carmine Falcone).

The series is executive produced by Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell & Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner; Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes; and Bill Carraro. Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, the streaming series is produced by Reeves' 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. 6th & Idaho's Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer, and Rafi Crohn is co-executive producer.

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