While the Bat-Signal may very well shine across Gotham’s dark and dreary skies starting this September, Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight won’t be responding on-screen. It’s unfortunate, but the Caped Crusader from Matt Reeves’ The Batman will not be showing up to do battle with Oz (Colin Farrell) during the HBO Original series, The Penguin. And in a brand-new interview, showrunner and writer Lauren LeFranc was asked what it was like to remove such an iconic character from his own world. LeFranc answered by telling SFX magazine (per GamesRadar+):
“I understand why people’s desire would be to have Batman,
or to think that unless Batman’s in a show or a film, then it doesn’t have the same punch.
To me, I think it packs a different punch.
Matt’s films are through the lens of the Batman, so you’re high up, looking down on the city.
It’s a different perspective.”
LeFranc (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Chuck, Hemlock Grove) continued by saying in the same interview (below):
“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.
So, it’s a different experience. 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.”
Matt Reeves Does Concede ‘Spectre of Batman Is There’
Creator Lauren LeFranc has already revealed that The Penguin will be imbued with serious Scarface (1983) vibes, but there won’t be a Caped Crusader on the show to stop Oz (Farrell). Despite Batman’s absence, though, Executive Producer Matt Reeves concedes that there are plenty of reminders of the Dark Knight detective in the HBO Original series. Reeves said during the same sit-down (below):
“I don’t feel like it’s missing something fundamental.
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 [Pattinson] is there.
The spectre of the Riddler [Paul Dano] is there.
The spectre of everything that happens in the last movie is there.
It informs it.
And it’s exactly where we begin.”
When the show wrapped back in the spring, star Colin Farrell assured fans that The Penguin will be a “twisted” and “incredibly violent” spin-off of The Batman: “It’s dark,” Farrell said. “That’s what I can tell you about it. It’s really dark, and really heavy, I think, certainly it was doing it. Which is not to say I didn’t have fun. I had an amazing time. But it’s incredibly violent.”
So, even without the presence of Robert Pattinson, Oz is firmly entrenched in the Dark Knight’s world. “This is Oswald’s journey, trying to rise to the top through extraordinary obstacles,” Farrell continued. “And it’s just super dark.”
LeFranc’s eight-episode series,
The Penguin,
premieres
Thursday, September 19,
at
9 p.m.
EDT on
HBO,
with new installments dropping each week. And check out the show’s official trailer below: