Colin Farrell debuted as Oz Cobb, aka The Penguin, in Matt Reeves' The Batman, and while he only appeared in a few scenes, he left a big impression. Farrell would go on to take the lead of his own HBO Max spin-off, and is set to reprise the role for the long-awaited The Batman - Part II.
The season finale of The Penguin seemed to indicate that the ruthless Gotham mob boss will be crossing paths with the Dark Knight in Reeves' sequel, but those hoping that this inevitable face-off will lead to Farrell having an expanded part in the story may be disappointed.
“I’ve got an even smaller role in this one. But I’m OK with that…I’ve read the script, from start to finish, and I can’t say much about it. But it’s deeper, scarier, the stakes are bigger. I’m really excited to see it,” the Irish actor tells THR.
Plot details are still under wraps, but Reeves did recently drop a few hints about the villain Batman will be facing off against in the movie, describing the mysterious antagonist as someone who has "never really been done in a movie before." The most popular theory seems to be Tommy Elliot, aka Hush, but there are a number of characters who could fit the bill.
How Cobb and his expanding criminal empire factors in remains to be seen, but we don't expect too much set-up for future BatVerse tales involving the character if Farrell has an even smaller role than he did in the first film.
Reeves has also confirmed that production is scheduled to get underway early next year.
“We’re beginning. We’re staffing up. We’re starting to get our crew back together. We’re getting ready. We’re basically entering [pre-production]. We’ll be making the movie in the spring... super excited,” he told THR.
“Because of what the first movie was and what [The Batman: Part 2] is, which is so much a detective story, the idea of trying to protect the secrets of the movie is super important because it’s a mystery. That would be an extra level of heartbreak if that part of it started getting out. You wanna keep the surprise so the fans... can have the fun experience that I always love going to the movies, which was to go and be surprised.”
In addition to Farrell and several others (presumably more than 5 people at this stage), Robert Pattinson has read the script - which was delivered to him in a highly secure envelope that required a separate code to open - and was said to be very happy with the story, which will seemingly take the iconic DC Comics hero in a direction we have not seen before. “
"He’s Batman, so if he doesn’t like it, not good. So, I was super excited because I thought that he really would [like it] because the things that it does for his character, for Batman, and for [Bruce Wayne] has never been done before in this way. And I had a feeling he would respond in this way, the fact that he did was incredibly encouraging,” Reeves added.