Batman spin-off The Penguin looks like Gotham’s answer to The Godfather in first action-packed trailer

The series arrives on Max this fall

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The first trailer for The Penguin is here – and it looks likeThe Batmanspin-off could be Gotham City’s answer to The Godfather.

The new series sees Colin Farrell reprise his role as Oz Cobb, AKA the Penguin, and has been described as “an epic crime saga.” Taking place shortly after the events of the movie, it charts the Penguin’s rise to power in Gotham’s criminal underworld.

In this new clip, we see the Penguin sitting in a dimly lit room, monologuing at an unseen companion – interspersed with glimpses of gunshots, fire, and screaming. “When I was a kid, there was a gangster. A real old school type: Rex Calabrese,” he says.

“He was a big deal. He helped people. If he saw you on the street, he’d call out to you. When I’m 14, or something, he has a heart attack and dies, still holding a cigar. In my neighborhood, they throw a parade in his honor. A friggin' parade. And it wasn’t fancy, but it was the gesture. The show of love, of what he meant. Can you imagine, to be remembered like that?”

Now, if that name doesn’t ring a bell, don’t worry: we haven’t seen Calabrese in The Batman. He does appear in the comics, though, where he’s a mob boss known as ‘the Lion’ with links to Catwoman. Intriguing.

Alongside Farrell, the cast also includes Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, the daughter of Carmine Falcone, as well as Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown, and Michael Zegen. The Batman director Matt Reeves is on board as an executive producer.

The Penguin will be released on Max this fall. In the meantime, check out our guide to the other biggestnew TV showson the way in 2024 and beyond.

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I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.

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