It's been reported on several occasions that HBO's The Penguin will feature an appearance from Robert Pattinson as either Bruce Wayne or Batman (perhaps both), news which made sense when it came to this TV show helping bridge the gap between The Batman and The Batman II.
However, something has changed recently because those involved with the show have flat-out denied we'll see the Caped Crusader in any way, shape, or form.
Maintaining the element of surprise is one thing but it now feels like The Penguin's creative team is tempering expectations to avoid disappointment, similar to what happened with Deadpool & Wolverine and Taylor Swift's long-rumoured cameo shortly before that movie was released.
Talking to Total Film, The Batman director and The Penguin executive producer Matt Reeves said, "I’m a point-of-view filmmaker. When I’m doing a Batman story, Batman and Bruce is going to be the main point of view. To explore the rogues gallery, they could never get the real estate we can do in a series."
"So Batman is in this [show] only as a sense that he’s a presence," he continued. "You’re aware that all of these events began because of the Riddler, but the Riddler doesn’t appear and Batman doesn’t appear."
Pushed on whether Pattinson appears in any manner, Reeves responded, "Rob is not going to be in the show. I’d rather take the Band-Aid off now. We did talk about all that but we felt the best way to do this was to go on a grand exploration of a guy grabbing for power in this moment."
This will disappoint many fans and in some respects feels like a missed opportunity. However, The Batman II is still being written and we'd imagine enlisting Pattinson for a scene or two might have involved spending more money than HBO would have liked; remember, this was originally conceived as a straight-to-streaming series.
Check out some new stills from The Penguin below.
The Penguin's cast also includes 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), and Theo Rossi (Dr. Julian Rush).
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 Penguin 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. Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer.
The Penguin premieres on HBO and Max on September 19.