Batman Won’t Appear in The Penguin Spin-Off Show

The Colin Farrell-led Penguin spin-off show from The Batman universe won’t feature Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight.

The Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc and executive producer Matt Reaves (also director of The Batman) told SFX Magazine that a cameo from the man himself isn’t necessary and doesn’t necessarily make sense.

“Matt’s films are through the lens of the Batman, so you’re high up, looking down on the city,” LeFranc said. “It’s a different perspective. With [Penguin], you’re in the city streets, you’re in the grit and the muck and the grime. He’s looking up, wanting to claw his way to the top.

“I think Gotham is an interesting enough city that it deserves to have more doors unlocked within it, and for us to walk through those and see what we think.”

Reeves chimed in too. “I don’t feel like [the show is] missing something fundamental,” he said. “I feel like it’s an extension of what is fundamentally there.

“We know this is the world of Batman. You’re going down a different alley. So the spectre of Batman is there. The spectre of the Riddler is there. The spectre of everything that happens in the last movie is there. It informs it. And it’s exactly where we begin.”

The Penguin is the first spin-off of many for The Batman, which debuted in 2022 to high critical acclaim and is the starting point of a new cinematic universe called The BatVerse. The show premieres September 19, 2024 and follows Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot, more commonly known as the crime boss Penguin, as he navigates the gruesome underworld of Gotham city.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.