Recently, Nerdist attended the NYC premiere of The Penguin. There, we had a chance to catch up with The Penguin‘s showrunner, Lauren LeFranc, and take a deep dive into the series. LeFranc knows every minute of the series by heart, so there’s no better person to guide us into the world. But there’s one big thing she wants you to remember: you shouldn’t like Oz Cobb. In addition to chatting about The Penguin‘s street-level story and complex main character, LeFranc also teased how the show sets up The Batman – Part II.
You can check out our full interview below.
Nerdist: The thing I love most about this show is that over and over, Oz makes you really want to root for him, and then over and over, he makes the wrong choice. How hard is it to balance those two factors of like he’s making the wrong decision, but you still want him to be likable or endearing?
Lauren LeFranc: I mean, I hope he’s not totally likable, to be honest, but I know that Colin [Farrell] brings with him so much charm and charisma, and I knew that going in. But I also wanted you to want to watch him, and I want him to be magnetic, but ultimately, I don’t feel like he should be particularly likable from the beginning of the show. I want you to lean in, and I understand why you would empathize with him.
He’s endearing, definitely. And empathy is so important for you to have for a guy like this. By the end, I don’t know if people will feel differently. It’s sort of up to them.
What are some of the most important takeaways you think you want fans to leave with after The Penguin?
LeFranc: I mean, I do view our show as a tragedy in a way, and I think it’s just a really deep examination of a man like Oz Cobb, who really represents a lot of people right now who are in leadership positions in our world, from CEOs to politics and everything else. So I think it’s really important to examine a personality like that. I mean, Oz is his own particular guy based on other mobsters in the world, but I think that’s worthy of examination.
Oz kind of undergoes this big journey in The Penguin. Were you setting him up for a future in the movies at all, or were you really just focused on this is his show?
LeFranc: I really wanted to make sure that we examined him as a character in an interesting enough way that you could just watch this show and you don’t need to do more. But we are meant to be the bridge between the first film The Batman movie and The Batman Part II.
Is there anything fans should watch out for in the series that might hint at what’s sort of coming in the next movie?
LeFranc: There’s little Easter eggs. I mean, we definitely end with Oz in a position that we wanted to establish a moment for the second The Batman film.
What was your favorite moment in The Penguin’s world?
LeFranc: I don’t have one personal favorite moment. I honestly don’t. I know every frame of this show, and I’m just so proud of our cast and our crew. I genuinely am and I’m excited for people to see it.
The Penguin is really one of the best sort of street-level shows that I’ve ever seen. How hard was it to bring that feeling to life and really just stay in that lens?
LeFranc: It really took our incredible production group, honestly. Our production designer, Kalina Ivanov, established Gotham City. That was really spectacular and it’s just a team effort and to make sure that you have the goal and the tone that you want to be.