The Penguin concluded last night with an eventful finale that set Oz Cobb on a path to an inevitable confrontation with Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight, and the show's EP and The Batman's director Matt Reeves has now weighed in on the episode's biggest moments and how they may connect to his sequel.
Reeves also revealed that the final episode's big character death was originally going to play out very differently.
Major spoilers follow.
Towards the end of "A Great or Little Thing," Oz shares a drink with his protégé Victor, before brutally murdering the young man. Vic was loyal to Cobb and had come to view the gangster as family, which was what tragically sealed his fate.
However, showrunner Lauren LeFranc had initially pitched an idea what would have seen the two becoming enemies prior to Vic's death.
"The one thing that was slightly different was [regarding how] Vic died. In the initial pitch, she envisioned how Vic was supposed to protect [Oz’s mom] Francis, and that had gone wrong. And in the struggle between Sofia and Oz, that Sofia was able to manipulate things in such a way that she turned Oz against Vic. And that would be this tragic thing. I thought that sounded great. But then, as we got deeper and deeper in, and she wrote the scene, she had changed her conception slightly, but in a critical way that I think made it even more powerful — an idea that was truly horrendous, but also profoundly tragic, which was that Oz needed to kill Victor because he couldn’t bear that level of vulnerability."
"Oz had kept him at arms distance and was using Vic as a pawn," he continued. "It was all about his ambition. But he had allowed this person to get so close to him that he couldn’t bear that closeness and that had to be snuffed out, that it could make him weak, and being weak was impossible for him. So that was the thing that surprised me and it made the scene even more powerful."
Reeves was also asked about Sofia Falcone's potential return for The Batman Part II, and while he wasn't willing to confirm anything outright, he did indicate that Barry Keoghan's "fresh" take on the Joker will be involved in some capacity.
"Anytime you’re going to approach any of these characters, you have to find a fresh way to do it. So that makes it incredibly daunting. At the same time, this version of Penguin is a version of Penguin that no one had ever seen. The only way to do it is to feel like you’re earning your place because otherwise you’re just doing more, and people are going like, 'Well, we’ve seen it, so what do you got for us?' So how can it be the thing we love, but also something we haven’t seen? That’s always the challenge. So with a character like that, that would have to be the bar."
Rumor had it that Keoghan is set to feature in his own Joker series before returning as the main villain in The Batman Part III, although James Gunn has debunked the report.
The Penguin stars Colin Farrell (Oz Cobb), 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 eight-episode DC Studios drama series continues The Batman epic crime saga that filmmaker Matt Reeves began with Warner Bros. Pictures’ global blockbuster The Batman, and centers on the character played by Farrell in the film.
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 show 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.