In addition to bringing back Colin Farrell (under a mountain of make-up and prosthetics) to play Oswald Cobblepot, The Penguin is also giving its female characters a chance to shine in a genre that is often very male-dominated. Farrell’s Penguin was introduced in Matt Reeves’ The Batman as a side-character during Batman’s (Robert Pattinson) hunt for The Riddler (Paul Dano). The new eight-episode miniseries is being overseen by showrunner Lauren LeFranc. It is sadly still uncommon for women to have such creative control on projects within the crime genre (and on Hollywood projects in general), and LeFranc said she’s making the most of her position to elevate the role of her female characters.

As Oz Cobblepot rises through Gotham City’s criminal underground, he comes face to face with Sofia ‘Hangman’ Falcone (played by Cristin Milioti), the ruthless daughter of the deceased crime kingpin Carmine Falcone. Speaking to Total Film (via GamesRadar+), LeFranc said that, as a woman, she naturally has a different perspective on masculinity. She wants to explore that perspective in the series, and does so by surrounding The Penguin with female characters who are more than just half-written, uninteresting background characters. LeFranc explained:

“Very few women have been able to write these kinds of movies or television shows. I think my perspective on Oz, and masculinity in general, is different. And that made me also want to surround him with really interesting, complicated women. In traditional crime dramas, rarely are the women as interesting as the men. So I took this as an opportunity to see what had been done before me, to respect and honor the genre, and then to also evolve it.”

New The Penguin Images Highlight The Falcone Crime Family
The Penguin Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022’s film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family’s empire.Release Date 2023-00-00 Seasons 1

The first trailers for The Penguin support Lauren LeFranc’s point about including interesting female characters. An underutilized character in DC Comics, Sofia Falcone is revealed in The Penguin to have just been released from the infamous Arkham Asylum. Her placement in Gotham City’s most notorious prison for the criminally insane (where villains like The Joker and The Riddler are repeatedly incarcerated) already adds layers of mystery to her character. Add to that the brief shots of Falcone leaving her fellow inmates bruised and bloody, earning her vicious moniker as the “Hangman,” and The Penguin’s Sofia Falcone could become the most interesting female villain in a DC Comics adaptation yet.

Related The Batman Returns to Theaters With an Exclusive Sneak Peek at The Penguin Holy smokes, Batman. Matt Reeves’ modern superhero classic is returning to theaters this August.

Sofia Falcone won’t be the only member of the infamous crime family appearing in The Penguin. After the death of Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) in The Batman, the entire family reunites to solidify their hold over Gotham City’s underbelly. New images for The Penguin have given fans a better look at the four key players in the Falcone household. Alongside Milioti’s Sofia, the photos also show Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen), Johnny Vitti (Michael Kelly), and Milo Grapa (James Madio).

Check out the new images below:

The Penguin
premieres on Max on September 8, 2024.
Check out the latest trailer below: