The Penguin on HBO: Will There Be a Season 2? And Everything Else to Know

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues its slide into creative oblivion, and DC Comics' failed attempt to replicate the MCU's shared-universe success is swept under the rug in favor of James Gunn's new Superman reboot, Matt Reeves' burgeoning little Batman universe, completely separate from any other DC franchise, is doing its own thing. Reeves' film The Batman started this party in 2022, and now The Penguin on HBO, which focuses on Colin Farrell's villain character from that film, is keeping it going.

The Batman always kind of existed in its own little bubble — in the same way Batman was its own separate franchise for most of the character's on-screen history — and The Penguin, likewise, isn't really affected by all that corporate upheaval that's been going on at Warner Bros. Discovery. This also means that to enjoy The Penguin, you don't have much in the way of a franchise to worry about — it's just The Batman and now The Penguin.

And The Penguin is off to a great start. It's been a big hit for HBO and Max in its first season, with a rarity among TV shows in the streaming era: It's actually increased its viewership over its first five episodes. Does that mean we might get more of The Penguin, even though it was billed as a limited series? It's possible. Read on to find out that and more. Here's everything we know about The Penguin.

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The Penguin latest news

Could there be a second season of The Penguin? Though it was always meant to be a one-season limited series, The Penguin has become the rare TV hit that has grown its audience over its run, with Episode 5 reaching an all-time high in viewership for the series with 1.8 million viewers (Episode 6 numbers were not in at the time of this writing). So you better believe that HBO and creator Matt Reeves are discussing it. 

"I can tell you this, we would love to be able to do more. But I can also say that we are already talking to HBO about [more]," Reeves told The Wrap in late October. "The opportunity of being able to... on HBO, go and explore characters that wouldn't be able to have that kind of real estate creatively [in movies], as we were able to do with Oz, that is something that we are talking to HBO about. They're very excited about that idea. That's something that we really, really hope we're going to be able to do." Reeves added, "We've got The Batman. We've got The Penguin. And who knows what's next."

It wouldn't be unprecedented for HBO to extend a limited series. It famously ordered two extra seasons of Big Little Lies following the critical and ratings success of Season 1, even though it was only meant to run for one season.

The Penguin premiere date

The Penguin premiered Thursday, Sept. 19 at 9/8c on HBO. The limited series, which has eight episodes, airs weekly on HBO and is available to stream on Max. 

The Penguin trailer

HBO unveiled the official trailer for The Penguin at San Diego Comic-Con. The video teases what to expect from Farrell's Oz Cobb and the gang war that unfolds around him. 

What is The Penguin about?

The Penguin focuses on Oz Cobb himself as he attempts to make his own play for power in the wake of the death of Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) in The Batman. The Penguin picks up just days after what happened in the film, while Gotham is still in shambles and all the criminal elements in the city compete to fill the void left by Falcone's death. "The catastrophic events that end our movie also was a great opportunity to start a show, not just the physical decline of the place but the morally corrupt and complicated characters that exist in this world," executive producer Dylan Clark said at The Penguin's San Diego Comic-Con panel.

Those characters include Falcone's daughter, Sofia (Cristin Milioti), who wants to make her own play for power. 

While The Batman director Matt Reeves is receiving only a producer's credit for The Penguin and didn't direct any episodes, the grungy, noir-esque aesthetic of The Penguin is clearly based on Reeves' film. So there's certainly a throughline with the vibe as well as the story.

The Penguin is being billed as a limited series, and thus is only expected to run for these eight episodes. But that label has been used a lot lately for shows that wound up running for multiple seasons, so there's always a chance the label won't stick. And with a big screen sequel to The Batman not slated to debut until October 2026, there's enough time for another season of The Penguin before then if Warner Bros. wants to go for it. 

ALSO READ: Everything we know about Peacemaker Season 2

The Penguin cast and crew

Colin Farrell reprises the role he played in The Batman, complete with a drastic makeup transformation that had to have been a real pain to deal with. Beyond Farrell, The Penguin has assembled a really excellent group of character actors. Keep your eyes on Clancy Brown and Shohreh Aghdashloo as Salvatore and Nadia Maroni — that's a fun pairing.

• Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb, aka the Penguin
• Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Carmine's daughter
• Michael Kelly as Falcone crime family underboss Johnny Vitti
• Clancy Brown as mob boss Salvatore Maroni
• Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni
• Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, a teenager who becomes Oswald's driver
• Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo
• Dierdre O'Connell as Oswald's mother, Francis

Will Batman show up on The Penguin?

Robert Pattinson is not listed among the cast of The Penguin, and in late August, both The Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc and The Batman director Matt Reeves confirmed to SFX Magazine (via TheWrap) that Batman doesn't participate in this series. While it's a dead certainty that he'll be referenced, he won't even be making any kind of cameo appearance.

"Matt's films are through the lens of the Batman, so you're high up, looking down on the city," LeFranc said. "It's a different perspective. With Oz, you're in the city streets, you're in the grit and the muck and the grime. He's looking up, wanting to claw his way to the top."

"I don't feel like it's missing something fundamental," Reeves added. "I feel like it's an extension of what is fundamentally there. We know this is the world of Batman. You're going down a different alley. So the spectre of Batman is there. The spectre of the Riddler is there. The spectre of everything that happens in the last movie is there. It informs it. And it's exactly where we begin."  

LeFranc said there's plenty enough going on in Gotham to be able to explore a part of it without Batman. 

"I think Gotham is an interesting enough city that it deserves to have more doors unlocked within it, and for us to walk through those and see what we think."

So that settles that, I guess.

Is The Penguin part of James Gunn's new DC Universe?

Like Joker before it, The Batman was always planned as its own thing, separate from the DC Extended Universe of movies, and so it and The Penguin exist in their own bubble, unaffected by corporate machinations. In theory.

But in truth, we don't really understand anything about Gunn's long-term plans for DC, and we probably won't learn anything until we see his Superman film next summer. Despite that, Peacemaker Season 2 will be a part of the new universe and feature characters from that Superman film, despite Season 1 being in the old DC universe. We could be looking at some kind of in-universe reboot, like how the comics have done it several times across DC's history. 

With The Penguin launching many months before Superman, though, it might be a while until we have some answers about that.

How to watch The Penguin

The Penguin premiered on Sept. 19 at 9/8c on HBO. New episodes air Thursdays at 9/8c on HBO and stream on Max.

How to watch The Batman

The Batman, like the previous live-action Batman movies, is available to stream on Max.