HBO’s The Penguin is bringing to life a new chapter of The Batman universe. And this time, it’s all about, you guessed it, Penguin. Armed with a new name, Oz Cobb, and a gritty street-level series the likes of which has never quite been seen before, Colin Farrell’s Penguin is ready to take the crime underworld of Gotham by storm. He’s a man on a mission and he is not stopping. Through Oz’s many schemes, betrayals, wins, and losses, the audience will get a front-row seat to the innermost workings of this Batman villain like never before. In celebration of The Penguin, Colin Farrell, who, as mentioned, plays Oz Cobb in a deeply transformative turn, spoke to Nerdist and other press about the character at its NYC premiere.
According to Farrell, we’re in for a wild ride with Oz in The Penguin. This series will take us all the way back to Oz’s childhood. “There are some extraordinary scenes, flashback scenes, and scenes in the present that kind of refer to certain things that happened in his childhood. Oz is someone who is not to be trifled with and he can be extraordinarily cruel, it’s a descent into his psychosis really in the show in many ways, I say that not lightly.”
That said (with gravitas), Farrell is very clear that nothing in Oz’s past seeks to absolve him of his bad behavior on The Penguin. And yet, seeing some of what transpired in his life does help to understand the person he has become in this The Batman series. Farrell continues, “There’s no justification for so many of the things he’s done. But you can kind of see how somebody who might have been born a little bit broken already. But if he was, that break was agitated and was magnified by certain things that took place in his early years.”
As to how The Penguin connects to The Batman series as a whole, Farrell tells the press in a question asked by Comicbook, that Batman is not top of mind for one Oz Cobb. “Oz has other things on his mind.” Farrell offers. “He’s trying to keep his shit together, and he’s trying to fill the power vacuum in Gotham. Maybe he has a passing thought [about Batman], like, is that guy gonna turn up? But there’s so much happening to him already that the immediate present is really the most important thing.”
Like Oz Cobb, Farrell himself had things on his mind other than The Batman movies while creating The Penguin. “It wasn’t so much for me about the things that connected The Batman and The Penguin.” He notes about his time as Oz Cobb in this spinoff in a question asked by The Mary Sue, “It was more the stuff that I got to experience anew. Working with Cristin [Milioti] as Sofia Falcone, she’s extraordinary. The relationship between Rhenzy [Feliz]—the relationship there is really interesting.”
Ultimately, though, the black heart of the series lies in the relationship between Oz and his mom. Farrell notes of the Penguin’s familial ties. “The relationship between Oz and his mom… really, there’s something so anchoring and deeply meaningful about the relationship between Francis, Oz’s mom, so wonderfully played by Didi [Deirdre O’Connell] and myself, as Oz. I loved those scenes. There’s something so heartfelt about those scenes. And I think that’s where you see Oz at his most vulnerable, when he’s with his mother. And there’s so much carnage around that. Any time you get to see Oz’s true vulnerability is always interesting to show and access.”
And indeed, The Penguin is all about carnage of many kinds. Colin Farrell makes his grand return to the villainous Batman character in The Penguin, which premieres on HBO and Max on September 19 at 6pm PT/9pm ET.