With The Batman having debuted in theaters this past weekend, it seems as though Warner Bros. is continuing to move forward with its spinoff series following Colin Farrell's Penguin, as a showrunner for the series might have just been confirmed.
Writer and producer Lauren LeFranc was seemingly confirmed as the showrunner on the Penguin series after a recent change to her Twitter profile was spotted. The end of LeFranc's profile description now reads, "Currently showrunner of The Penguin." Though no official announcement as to her showrunner status on the project has been shared as of writing, LeFranc's experience penning and producing scripts for series such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hemlock Grove, and Impulse may make her a good fit for a story set in the gritty, grounded version of Gotham city seen in The Batman.
LeFranc was confirmed as a writer on the series when reports of The Penguin's early development at HBO surfaced in September 2021. The Batman director Matt Reeves and producer Dylan Clarke are also reportedly attached to the project as executive producers.
While little is currently known about the show, Reeves recently revealed the idea for a Penguin series was originally envisioned as a sequel to The Batman. Reeves remembered mentioning to Warner Bros. executives his idea for The Batman 2 would involve following the rise of Oswald Cobblepot becoming the infamous crime lord feared as the Penguin. Reeves recalled the studio's response, saying, "And they were like, 'Oh, we want to do that as a show.'"
Clarke elaborated on Reeves' pitch, comparing the Penguin's origin to Scarface. Clarke went on to explain how the series is aiming to not only add depth to the Penguin's character in The Batman but also to stand on its own, adding, "It’s exciting to do something like that just as a standalone, but it speaks to the character and our movie so that you’ll go back to the movie [and say], 'Oh, I see that backstory there, that line refers to this."
Despite his character missing his signature cigar in The Batman, Farrell recently explained that the decision to not let Penguin smoke might be related to his place near the bottom of the Falcone crime family. As such, Farrell emphasized the version audiences see on the big screen has yet become the crime boss many are familiar with -- a development the actor hinted could be explored in future appearances, saying, "The Oz that we meet [in The Batman] hasn’t embodied the energy of the Penguin that we recognize from the source comics and from previous films. I’d love to explore it because he’s not an underboss, he’s not a boss, he’s just a soldier of Falcone at this stage. But he has great ambition and dreams of doing big, big things."
The Batman is now playing exclusively in theaters.
Source: Twitter