Deadline confirms that Matt Reeves' The Batman spin-off The Penguin has halted production after being disrupted by WGA-organized picketers.
Original plans called for the Max series to shoot yesterday in Westchester, New York, but WGA East picketers arrived before cameras could roll and that resulted in Teamsters and local guilds refusing to cross the picket line. As you might expect, this meant filming was shut down for the day.
It's unclear how long production will be halted on The Penguin for, but this isn't the only superhero TV show to find itself caught in the ongoing WGA strike. Since that began on May 2, work on Daredevil: Born Again and Wonder Man has also been disrupted.
This is an inevitable part of a WGA strike, and the hope is that causing disruption like this will put pressure on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to meet the guild's terms. The last strike lasted for 100 days and caused issues for countless movies and TV shows, so we're hoping this one is resolved sooner rather than later.
Lauren LeFranc is serving as The Penguin's writer, executive producer, and showrunner, while Reeves executive produces as well.
Colin Farrell reprises his role as Oswald Cobblepot and will also be joined in the series by Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, Theo Rossi, Michael Zegen, James Madio, Scott Cohen, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Deirdre O’Connell.
The Batman II is set to be released in theaters on October 3, 2025. The Penguin, meanwhile, will likely premiere on Max sometime in 2024.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.