THE BATMAN Star Colin Farrell Confirms THE PENGUIN's Episode Count On HBO Max

Despite the massive changes being made to the DCU by Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Studios, Matt Reeves' The Batman franchise will continue. We don't know whether the filmmaker's ambitious plan for several villain-led HBO Max TV shows will come to fruition, but The Batman II has been confirmed, as has The Penguin.

The latter begins production this year and will see Colin Farrell reprise his role as "Oz" to fill in some of the gaps between The Batman movies as his villain rises to power in Gotham City's underworld. 

During a recent interview with Variety, Farrell fielded a couple of questions about the series, confirming The Penguin's episode count. "It’s going to be an eight-part thing," the Irish actor says. "Around Oz’s rise to power, filling that power vacuum created when Falcone was killed."

"Matt’s idea was to have the Penguin show begin about a week after the end of the Batman film. And if it works, if the trajectory is interesting, and the audience goes for it, and we do our jobs right, the second [Batman] feature will pick up where the HBO show will end."

Reeves is thought to be intent on at least making a trilogy of movies, and despite that big Joker tease, we can't help but wonder whether the idea is to establish The Penguin as Batman's real big bad. Whatever the case may be, with DC Studios developing The Brave and the Bold, it will be interesting seeing how these separate franchises complement each other. 

As for The Penguin, it sounds like a series with a lot of potential and we're expecting at least a cameo appearance from Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight somewhere in those eight episodes. 

The Batman II is set to be released in theaters on October 3, 2025. The Penguin, meanwhile, will likely premiere on HBO Max sometime in 2024.