Colin Farrell Downplays Possibility of The Penguin Season 2

Oz Cobb didn’t become a player in the Gotham City underworld by being reckless. He knows when the odds are stacked against him, and he knows not to sacrifice long-term success for short-term gain. Clearly, Colin Farrell, the guy who brought Oz to life in The Batman and in the HBO spinoff The Penguin feels the same way.

When asked by ComicBook about the odds of The Penguin getting a second season, Farrell hedged. “Oh, I don’t know,” he admitted. Even allowing that he has “a bit of a negativity bias,” the Irish actor advised caution. “I would say I would bet against, but not by much,” he said.

Prudent as his approach may be, Farrell’s reserve does come as a surprise. While this writer gave the show mixed reviews here at Den of Geek, it was largely praised by critics. The series even earned several award nominations, including an Emmy win for co-star Cristin Milioti. And with The Batman now three years old and The Batman Part II still two years away, it would make sense that Warner Bros. would want something to fill the gap.

But for Farrell, story comes first, and he doesn’t see a story to justify another series about Oz Cobb. “I know that the powers that be are thinking of storylines that could justify another eight hours because it all goes off Matt Reeves’s world,” he revealed. But he doesn’t see another opportunity like the one given to season one of The Penguin. “It conveniently worked that the death at the end of The Batman and the devastation within Gotham opened up a power vacuum that then Oz could try and capitalize on. That was perfect for the parallel eight hours that we had.”

Of course, another problem facing a continuation of The Penguin is the status of the DCU right now. Over the course of its long production, The Batman mutated from a film set in Zack Snyder‘s DCEU in which Ben Affleck, who would also direct, reprised his role as the Dark Knight and into a stand-alone film with no connection to the wider universe. Even as James Gunn and Peter Safran became co-heads of DC Studios and work to reboot the universe, The Batman seems to have protected status as its own thing, with Andy Muschietti’s upcoming The Brave and the Bold serving as the mainline movie about the Caped Crusader.

Perhaps wisely, Farrell doesn’t worry about such things. But that doesn’t mean he can’t share anything about the future of The Batman. He told ComicBook that Part II “will pick up… a few weeks after the show ended,” confirming that The Penguin serves as a bridge between the two Bat-adventures.

For that reason, Farrell remains convinced that his show won’t get a second season, but not by much. “I kind of bet against, but not by a wide mark,” he concluded. And that’s just the type of safe but smart move that makes Farrell the perfect person to play the opportunistic Oz Cobb.