The Penguin finally airs on Max beginning September 19, continuing Matt Reeves's Epic Crime Saga, which began in 2022 with The Batman. The original streaming series takes place right after the events of the film, which saw the Riddler (Paul Dano) assassinate crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), leaving a massive power vacuum behind in Gotham City. Now, Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot, a.k.a. the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Falcone's right-hand man, seeks to take over the criminal underworld of Gotham. However, he faces opposition from Falcone's two children, who have returned home to claim their father's kingdom.
Though it remains unclear which characters from The Batman will appear in The Penguin, fans are eagerly theorizing about how the series will pick up the film's story. With The Batman Part II on the slate for October of 2026, The Penguin remains viewers' best chance at getting any hints about the highly anticipated sequel. On the top of fans' lists of potential cameos are other Batman villains who could factor into the Epic Crime Saga. Among these are two villains set up in The Batman: Paul Dano's Riddler and Barry Keoghan's Joker. The two iconic supervillains met in prison at the end of The Batman, teasing their team-up in future projects. The Penguin can finally deliver the epic partnership that fans have been waiting for.
Although Matt Reeves and the other producers of The Penguin have kept any potential cameos under wraps, a compelling possibility suggests that the series could feature Barry Keoghan's return as the Joker. Keoghan made a surprise appearance at the end of The Batman, where his new take on the Joker introduced himself to the newly foiled Riddler, proposing a friendship between the two supervillains that would take Gotham City by storm. This scene was a clear setup for The Batman Part II but could play into the events of The Penguin as well. The Max series delves deeper into the criminal element of Gotham, including certain Arkham Asylum patients who have plagued the city in the past. With this connection, The Penguin could pay a visit to the infamous mental institution, where audiences could be treated to the next step in the Riddler and the Joker's insidious relationship.
The Penguin can depict the Riddler after the events of The Batman, which saw his epic loss to the Caped Crusader, now teaming up with a new supervillain whose madness supersedes his own. While The Penguin shouldn't focus too heavily on setting up future stories in the Epic Crime Saga, the series can organically include a scene teasing how the villains plan to wreak havoc in Gotham. In an age where superhero franchises (namely the DCEU and the MCU) seem to keep dropping hints at future storylines that don't pay off for multiple years, it would be refreshing for the Epic Crime Saga to at least continue to build on its promises rather than save them for a sequel that is still two years away from hitting theaters. Merely by reminding them of the Riddler and Joker's upcoming team-up, The Penguin can keep fans from growing weary of waiting to see what comes next.
As the second installment of the Epic Crime Saga, The Penguin needs to do its part in setting up future projects, though not at the risk of compromising its own story. The Max original series can organically tease the future team-up between the Joker and the Riddler while hinting at the dark future that awaits Gotham under their tyrannical rule.
The HBO series based on the Batman villain follows the transformation of Oz Cobb (played by Colin Farrell) from a disfigured nobody to a noted Gotham gangster.
