Matt Reeves Confirms The Penguin Isn’t Essential Viewing Before The Batman Part II

The Penguin, the first spin-off series from Matt Reeves’ The Batman, builds off the character’s appearance in the movie, but newer audiences don’t need to watch The Batman to enjoy the new show — nor do they need to watch the series to enjoy the upcoming sequel The Batman Part II. In a cinematic age where movies lead to interconnected sequels, interconnected spin-off shows, to interconnected Tumblr fan fiction, a large portion of moviegoers miss the days of standalone stories. While Matt Reeves always had plans to build off the success of The Batman with spin-offs, the director has assured audiences that each project works as its own standalone movie/show without the need to do cinematic homework.

Speaking to Collider, Reeves (who serves as an executive producer on The Penguin) revealed how closely the series ties into the larger Gotham mythos set up by The Batman. The show sees Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) brutally fight and scheme his way to the top of Gotham’s criminal food chain, following the death of Carmine Falcone in The Batman. According to Reeves, audiences don’t need to schedule any The Batman revision sessions before watching The Penguin. Most importantly, they don’t need to study The Penguin before enjoying The Batman Part II when it hits theaters.

“It is something that’s deepened by watching all of it,” Matt Reeves said. However, it was important for Reeves and showrunner Lauren LeFranc, that each entry in The Batman saga worked as its own story. He continued:

“But the truth of the matter is that each one, of course, needs to live on its own. So ‘The Batman’ lives on its own. ‘The Penguin’ series lives on its own. ‘The Batman 2’ will live on its own, but it will be deepened by your having. You won’t have to be prepared for what happens. You’ll just understand that that’s the entry point of where this character is coming in and the events that unfold are unfolding in a way where it’s not like, oh, gee, I needed to see those eight episodes of that show, or I won’t understand what’s going on. It’s not, really, it doesn’t really work that way.”

Colin Farrell May Hang It Up After The Penguin

The Penguin was conceived from Colin Farrell’s desperate desire to return as the character after a brief appearance in The Batman. Oz Cobb only appears in a handful of scenes alongside Robert Pattinson’s Batman in the movie. However, now that Farrell has an entire season under his belt, the actor seems to be regretting his initial desire to wear the intense prosthetics a second time.

The actor recalled a conversation with Lauren LeFranc about a potential second season. Farrell said that, given some R&R time, he might consider wearing Cobb’s prosthetics again in the future. However, given how he felt immediately after production, there’s a chance that The Penguin could be the last chance for fans to see Farrell’s amazing iteration of the character on screen. The actor said:

“Lauren said, ‘Look, if I could find a way that makes sense, would you talk about it?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And maybe in a year I would. But when I finished I was like, ‘I never want to put that f*cking suit and that f*cking head on again.”