‘The Penguin’ Comic-Con Trailer: Colin Farrell Rebuilds His Crime Empire in the Aftermath of ‘The Batman’

Matt Reeve’s sequel to “The Batman” doesn’t hit theaters until 2026, but fans of the film will get to revisit Reeves’ take on Gotham City this fall. Colin Farrell is set to reprise his role as comic book crime lord Oswald “Oz” Cobb in “The Penguin,” an eight episode limited series from showrunner Lauren LeFranc that will air on HBO and stream on Max in September.

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“The Penguin” will bridge the gap between the end of “The Batman” and the beginning of Reeves’ next film, following Oswald (better known by his villainous alias The Penguin) as he rebuilds his crime empire and seeks to fill the power vaccum that emerges in Gotham City after the death of John Turturro’s Carmine Falco.

A new trailer released during the show’s Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday gives fans their closest look yet at the series, which Farrell has frequently described as a passion project .

“I just thought it was the tip of the iceberg, pardon the pun, that we were getting to do the six or seven scenes that we did in the film. I was grateful for them, but I wanted more,” Farrell said in 2023 . “We have to get into what made him the man he is. And also, it will pick up where this film finished off, I think. I think it’ll pick up a little short time after the last frame of this film. We’ll get to go on a little kind of left turn off to the world of Oz and how he’s beginning to kind of dream of filling a potential power vacuum that may exist.”

“The Penguin” was originally designated as an HBO Max original, but dropped the HBO branding after the streaming service changed its name to Max . However, HBO boss Casey Bloys opted to re-brand it as an HBO series after being impressed with the finished product.

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“What we ended up with is shows at this scope and scale that look great, and great narratives and talent we’ve worked with,” Bloys said . “The idea of the delineation kind of started to feel unnecessary. Like, why are we doing this? Let’s just call them what they are: HBO shows.”

During “The Penguin” Comic-Con panel at Hall H, “The Batman” writer/director Matt Reeves shared how this part of the Penguin’s story was initially part of “The Batman Part II,” but HBO wanted a “marquee character” and they all felt a limited series would be a great opportunity to flesh out the character.

“The Penguin” premieres on Thursday, September 19. Watch the official trailer below.