After scene-stealing roles in Hello, Destroyer, actor Jared Abrahamson has joined the cast of Colin Farrell's The Penguin series for Max, per Deadline.
For his role in Hello, Destroyer, Abrahamson was awarded the TIFF Rising Star award and a Leo Award for Best Lead Performance. Exactly who Abrahamson is portraying in The Penguin is being kept under wraps for now.
Per previous coverage on the show by Empire Magazine, it's been confirmed that The Penguin picks up just a few days after the ending of The Batman, with Farrell's Cobblepot navigating the new power vacuum left after John Turturro's Carmine Falcone met his demise.
Filming on the show was interrupted by this past summer's SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes but resumed last November/December. Recently, Michael Kelly confirmed that he has finished shooting his scenes for the 8-episode, Max original.
"I was doing The Penguin and we stopped right in the middle [because of the strike]," Kelly told ComicBook. "I had one day left [of filming], and I'm done now with that. It's crazy too because now I'm a free agent for the first time in 10 years and it's exciting and terrifying."
On Farrell's performance, Kelly stated, "It's mind-blowing man, mind-blowing and he's so freaking good in it. He's so good in it."
Kelly portrays Johnny Vitti, a lieutenant in the Falcone Crime Family. While details on the series are scarce, we're guessing that Kelly's character and Farrell's Penguin will be vying for control of Carmine's empire.
Also, based on the fact that shooting on The Penguin remains ongoing but Kelly has wrapped, one might make the logical guess that Farrell's Cobblepot comes out on top in their quest for control of Gotham's underworld.
In addition to Abrahamson, Farrell and Kelly, the show also stars Cristin Milioti as Carmine’s daughter Sofia Falcone, Michael Zegen as Carmine’s son Alberto Falcone and Clancy Brown as rival mobster Salvatore Maroni.
Also appearing in supporting roles are Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Carmen Ejogo, François Chau, Theo Rossi, and David H. Holmes.
In other related, spin-off news for The Batman, the Arkham Asylum television show Reeves was developing for Max is now part of the DCU, according to James Gunn.
Antonio Campos, who served as showrunner on HBO's critically-acclaimed limited series, The Staircase, is leading development on the Arkham TV show for Reeves. He replaced Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire) who departed the show over creative differences.
The Penguin is without a release date but is rumored to be releasing in Q3 2024.
The Batman II is set to be released in theaters on October 3, 2025.