Colin Farrell Reveals Whether He’ll Return as Penguin in The Batman 2

The final episode of The Penguin, which explores Gotham's mob wars, will hit Max this Monday. The series is a spinoff from the 2022 The Batman, with Colin Farrell reprising his role as the Gotham gangster, hidden beneath layers of transformative makeup. Although the actor previously mentioned the long hours in the makeup chair were tough, he now says he's open to returning and believes he's likely to be included in The Batman sequel.

Farrell, however, doesn’t know specifics about The Batman 2 plot. "I have no idea what's going to happen in the second film. I've heard Penguin’s supposed to be in it, [but] I haven't read [the script] yet," he shared during a podcast appearance. Farrell added that the show introduced intriguing storylines, and he’d be thrilled to see them carry over to the big screen. "It would be interesting to see where we go from here. But [Penguin] would already be quite different," he remarked.

The Batman 2 is slated for release in fall 2026. Recently, rumors circulated that Barry Keoghan’s Joker might also get a series similar to The Penguin, linking the second and third films just as The Penguin connects the first two. However, James Gunn, co-chair of DC Studios, has since denied this information.

Matt Reeves, who writes and directs the films starring Robert Pattinson, has referred to this standalone franchise as the Batman Epic Crime Saga. This independent DC narrative takes a gritty, realistic approach, which The Penguin spinoff further emphasizes. In the first Batman film, Farrell’s character appears as a small-time operative under Carmine Falcone, but in The Penguin series—which draws comparisons to The Godfather and The Sopranos—Oz Cobb plays at a higher level, igniting an all-out crime war in Gotham, something Bruce Wayne is unlikely to overlook.