Actor Colin Farrell has poured cold water on speculation that HBO’s acclaimed Gotham crime saga The Penguin will return for a second season, even as studio executives refuse to rule it out. The Irish star added a fresh wrinkle by revealing he has yet to read The Batman: Part II and has already heard murmurs of a third film in Matt Reeves’ noir‑tinged franchise.
“There’s literally not [a plan],” Farrell said when asked whether Season 2 was secretly under way. “If there was, and I was told to lie to you, I’d probably have to lie to you. But genuinely, no… There is absolutely nothing in process.” He added that he hopes to see Reeves’ script for the 2027 Batman sequel “soon,” while acknowledging that a third installment is also being discussed.
HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery sound less definitive. Chief content officer Casey Bloys said “another chapter” is “definitely possible,” stressing that Reeves’ priority is finishing The Batman: Part II but confirming that showrunner Lauren LeFranc is “thinking of various ideas that might work alongside the movie.”
Their caution partly reflects how the series positioned itself for awards season: The Penguin garnered 24 Emmy nominations in limited‑series categories, signaling that it was conceived as a closed story even before fans clamoured for more. LeFranc has said she would only pursue a follow‑up if she can find “a great story to tell.”
Set one year after 2022’s The Batman, the eight‑episode drama follows Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot’s bloody rise in a destabilised Gotham underworld, cementing Farrell’s makeup‑cloaked performance as a cornerstone of what Reeves calls his “Batman Epic Crime Saga.” Reeves delivered the finished script for Part II last month, and Warner Bros. has dated the film for 1 October 2027, with shooting expected to start in early 2026.
That timeline complicates any swift decision on The Penguin’s future. DC Studios co‑chief James Gunn—juggling both Reeves’ “Elseworlds” Batman series and a separate DCU reboot—has praised the Part II screenplay as “great,” but warned that production will not advance until he deems it “fantastic.” Industry analysts note that Warner Bros. is banking on Reeves’ gritty Bat‑corner to complement Gunn’s wider superhero overhaul, which just scored an early win with a strong box‑office launch for his Superman reboot. Whether Oz Cobblepot waddles back to television may ultimately hinge on how smoothly that wider strategy unfolds.
