HBO's The Penguin limited series wrapped-up tonight with a shocking finale that saw Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) establish himself as the new king of Gotham's criminal underworld - at the cost of whatever shred of humanity he may have had left.
After first getting Sofia Falcone Gigante (Cristin Milioti) out of his way by sending her back to Arkham, Oz decided that he couldn't leave any more room for weakness, murdering his young protégé Victor (Rhenzy Feliz) even as he begged for his life.
We then see Oz return to his penthouse after spending the evening with his new high-society associates, now more delusional than ever as he dances with Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo) - who is dressed in his mom's clothes - while his actual mother (Deirdre O’Connell) lies in a vegetative state upstairs.
Oz believes himself to be untouchable now, but the finale concludes with a shot of the Bat-Signal illuminating the Gotham skyline.
During an interview with Variety, showrunner Lauren LeFranc explained why she chose to end the episode by reminding viewers that the Dark Knight is still out there.
“We were searching for an elegant way to hand off our show to The Batman. It felt correct to have the Bat-Signal to undercut him and say, ‘You have not made it to the top yet. You are living in this fantasy, but there’s a real larger world out there.’’”
The Bat-Signal wasn't the only tease of what's to come in Matt Reeves' sequel, as we also see Sofia receive a letter from her half-sister Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz).
LeFranc says there was never any discussion of a Catwoman cameo because she "wasn't able to use" the character.
“I think it was to the benefit, because with Sofia, for instance, she was given a lot more room because we didn’t have so many other characters from the film. It’d be easy to get caught up in that, and then push other characters that I find really interesting aside.”
Milioti declined to reveal the contents of the letter — which LeFranc wrote — but the smile on Sofia's face as she reads it suggests that a team-up might be on the cards.
“It had enormous meaning to me… in the way that you become close with who you’re playing,” said the actress. “I think it’s about hope, which is not something she’s terribly familiar with.”
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.