According to Comicbook.com, a new rumor is circulating around the upcoming Matt Reeves (the Planet of the Apes franhicse, Cloverfield) HBO Max Batman spinoff series, The Penguin, concerning the potential appearance of Robert Pattinson (the Twilight saga, Tenet) as the iconic caped crusader. While speaking on The Hot Mic with Jeff Sneider and John Rocha podcast, Sneider corroborated the rumor of Pattinson reprising his role in The Batman for the highly anticipated Gotham crime drama show.
As reported by Comicbook.com, production on The Penguin is purportedly set to begin very soon with showrunner Lauren LeFranc (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Impulse) at the helm for all eight episodes of the first season. Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin, Thirteen Lives) is already confirmed to reprise his role from The Batman as The Penguin and will star alongside Cristin Millioti (Palm Springs, The Resort), Michael Kelly (Jack Ryan, House of Cards), Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse, House of Sand and Fog), Deirdre O’Connell (Daredevil, Outer Range), and Rhenzy Feliz (Encanto, Marvel’s Runaways).
In an interview with ExtraTv, Farrell stated that The Penguin “starts about a week after the film The Batman ends. So Gotham is still somewhat underwater. I read the first script for the first episode, and it opens up with my feet splashing through the water in Falcone’s office. Even just that alone, I read it, I was like, ‘Oh, jeez.’ It’s lovely. It’s so well-written.”
As confirmed by DC Co-CEO James Gunn (the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, The Suicide Squad) on the official DC YouTube channel, Reeves’ Batman universe is a separate entity, or Elseworlds project, which will take place outside of the upcoming DC universe overhaul. “Matt is working on Batman 2, which he thinks of it as a Batman crime saga, which also includes the Penguin TV series. And it is its own thing, and he’s hard at work on that. He came in and pitched us some amazing, really cool stuff the other day. Our plan is for that to continue.”
For more information on The Penguin, check out our other articles here and here.