The Penguin The Penguin on HBO - General Discussion

[cryptic name]

Lithgow is killin' it on The Old Man.

He’s awesome in it

 

[Sawyer]

Him or John Lithgow would be great

Considering he was in the mix for Joker back in the 80s, that would be some fun casting.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Is Batman gonna appear on this show? I have a hard time believing he wouldn't if Penguin is running around.

 

[antsman41]

I’m guessing Pattinson will be fully in the finale… with alluding to offscreen, or “suit” / shadows in the background. Think how Gotham Central’s first arc treated Batman.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

It didn’t really seem like Penguin and Batman ever met before in The Batman.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

It didn’t really seem like Penguin and Batman ever met before in The Batman.

Probably Doesn’t matter. The show is supposedly taking place after the events of the movie.

 

[signalman]

Will start filming next February.

The Batman's Colin Farrell Reveals When HBO Max Spin-off Starts Filming (thedirect.com)

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Will start filming next February.

The Batman's Colin Farrell Reveals When HBO Max Spin-off Starts Filming (thedirect.com)

Disappointing. Was hoping it would start this Summer, so we could actually view it by next February…oh well, lol

 

[BatsAndNights]

Will start filming next February.

The Batman's Colin Farrell Reveals When HBO Max Spin-off Starts Filming (thedirect.com)

Yeah, I remember people claiming it was gonna start filming this summer and that always sounded kinda fishy to me. This sounds a lot more realistic

 

[Filmfreak]

There was a production listing for June, but they don't always stick. Things can change.

 

[Sawyer]

February’s a bit of a wait, but it could be made more tolerable with a bit of ****ing news.

*glares at Reeves/WB/HBO Max*

Just as a treat…

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

So if they begin filming next February, and the show is six to eight one hour episodes, realistically, when do you all think we can expect it to air?

 

[antsman41]

So if they begin filming next February, and the show is six to eight one hour episodes, realistically, when do you all think we can expect it to air?

October. It’ll be the Mare of 2023…

 

[Filmfreak]

Probably spring 2024.

 

[Invader Joker]

Robert will have wrapped his new film by then so plenty of opportunity for Batman to show up

 

[WayneMB]

Robert will have wrapped his new film by then so plenty of opportunity for Batman to show up

that's what i was gonna say. Rob finishes Mickey7 in december and his schedule is once again empty.

 

[shauner111]

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this show is delayed until February while Rob is booked until December. I doubt it has to do with shuffling the shoot around so Colin can fulfill some other commitment. He was ready to shoot for this summer, so I believe they needed more time on the scripts (good choice, always thought they were rushing this) and/or they need Pattinson for this thing to work.

I don't see how this show can work without more than one appearance from Batman. Not with what we’ve heard in the last month about Black Mask and Clayface.

Colin likely took the opportunity to book a project between now and Christmas.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

I know this is the Penguin thread, but I have to say I’m curious as hell on the status of the Arkham show. Could they possibly have both production working at the same time, or do you think they will finish Penguin first, THEN start working on Arkham?

 

[J.Drangal]

To be honest, I'm pretty sure the Arkham series is in development hell.
This is by no means a jab, but I think Reeves' mapping of this universe is a little too... fantasized. He certainly has an overall vision, but other than this Penguin series and probably a plan for his trilogy, I don't think there's much more that's beyond the state of ideas.
And to me, that's absolutely ok, I wouldnt like to see his energy dispersed and the whole thing fall into the same old traps as so many other projects.

 

[shauner111]

To be honest, I'm pretty sure the Arkham series is in development hell.
This is by no means a jab, but I think Reeves' mapping of this universe is a little too... fantasized. He certainly has an overall vision, but other than this Penguin series and probably a plan for his trilogy, I don't think there's much more that's beyond the state of ideas.
And to me, that's absolutely ok, I wouldnt like to see his energy dispersed and the whole thing fall into the same old traps as so many other projects.

Development hell? They only came up with an idea for Arkham to replace GCPD earlier this year. It's likely in the beginning stages of mapping out the concept for the show, who may want to showrun, what kind of character would be the lead etc. If it was spring or summer 2023 and we still had no word, then I'd say yeah it seems like it's in developmental hell. But it's barely been 6 months since they discarded GCPD in favour of Arkham Asylum.

One thing at a time. Get Penguin off the ground first, as far as being in production. Use that time to plan the basics for Arkham and hire the right people to write the season. If it falls apart, so be it. There's always a chance that a show like Arkham will work better post-The Batman 2 (imagine adding Two-Face to that same floor which currently holds Riddler and Joker?). That's not a series that NEEDS to be made before a second film. Even a Catwoman series about Selina living in a different city before she heads back to Gotham...that can be made after her "surprise" return (in the movie). Fans will ask about where she was and why she came back to Gotham when they step out of the theater. Then you give them those answers a year later. No problemo. Stuff like that is tricky because you don’t want to pump out a Catwoman show JUST because there’s an appetite to see Zoe again. Some writer has to feel connected to a story or else why bother? And just being connected to a story without the audience appetite doesn’t work either (cough GCPD).

I say focus on the Penguin mini-series while Reeves takes his time writing the script for his movie. Everything else? No rush.

 

[Boom]

The Penguin series was only announced in December 2021. So that'll begin production just over a year after announcement. Not too bad. It'd be nice to see more substantial movement on the Arkham series, but it's worth considering that the show was originally going to be a GCPD show and has since been changed into a completely different premise. That doesn't happen overnight.

I'll worry about the Arkham show if we finish out the year without any sort of news. At the very least they need to announce a showrunner.

 

[shauner111]

Just to clarify (not for you Boom but for some other folks who seem to have the wrong impression about the GCPD show. "Arkham" is a separate show and concept from "GCPD". Those scripts are finished and won't be morphed into this Arkham thing. The suits simply chose a different show idea over the one they had developed.

With that said, I think if they ever want to finally greenlight those Joe Barton scripts, the right approach IMO would be to pull a Better Call Saul. Giancarlo Esposito wrapped his final Breaking Bad scenes in 2010. Here we are in 2022 for the final episodes of Better Call Saul and we have Gus and Mike scenes playing out. My point is that there's no reason why they can't get Jeffrey Wright once this movie trilogy is up and deliver that GCPD prequel to The Batman. It was smart to nix the series now. It might be smart to greenlight it years from now if Penguin is a success on HBO. If Arkham is a success on HBO. And then a possible Catwoman show is successful on HBO. Then why not deliver the Year One Gordon/Batman to a hungry audience who is sad after the trilogy wraps up?

I also think the Arkham and Catwoman shows could work as multiple seasons, continuing passed the trilogy timeline. Keep Penguin as a mini-series.

With that said, all anyone of us should really be caring about right now is the Penguin (6-8 episodes is perfect). Once that's about to drop, we'll have casting news for the second Batman. Late 2023 should be a blast.

 

[J.Drangal]

Development hell? They only came up with an idea for Arkham to replace GCPD earlier this year. It's likely in the beginning stages of mapping out the concept for the show, who may want to showrun, what kind of character would be the lead etc. If it was spring or summer 2023 and we still had no word, then I'd say yeah it seems like it's in developmental hell. But it's barely been 6 months since they discarded GCPD in favour of Arkham Asylum.

Oh okay, it felt longer to me. But maybe that's because I did mistook it for an evolution of the GCPD series, like if they were shooting a little in the dark (something you clarify in your next post).

One thing at a time. Get Penguin off the ground first, as far as being in production. Use that time to plan the basics for Arkham and hire the right people to write the season. If it falls apart, so be it. There's always a chance that a show like Arkham will work better post-The Batman 2 (imagine adding Two-Face to that same floor which currently holds Riddler and Joker?). That's not a series that NEEDS to be made before a second film. Even a Catwoman series about Selina living in a different city before she heads back to Gotham...that can be made after her "surprise" return (in the movie). Fans will ask about where she was and why she came back to Gotham when they step out of the theater. Then you give them those answers a year later. No problemo. Stuff like that is tricky because you don’t want to pump out a Catwoman show JUST because there’s an appetite to see Zoe again. Some writer has to feel connected to a story or else why bother? And just being connected to a story without the audience appetite doesn’t work either (cough GCPD).

I say focus on the Penguin mini-series while Reeves takes his time writing the script for his movie. Everything else? No rush.

Yeah, I totally agree as we're making the same point.
There's no need for quantity, it's the best way to end up with just expensive filler. But if creators have real and genuine ideas to expand this universe through spin-off series, then let's try them. And if it fails to go into production, as you said, it's probably for the best in the end.

I admit that when these projects were first announced, my initial reaction was to worry about creative dispersion. But it's true that, in fact, nothing said that all these projects should be released before the next film. A mini-series between each part of the trilogy is more than enough I think. Especially if like The Penguin, I guess, it can be used to develop some secondary parts of the film just before. It feels less gratuitous and tighter in the big picture..

I sometimes wonder if information about these projects shouldn't be shared this early. Because those months of silence after a show is announced can give that false sense of creative wandering, when in reality it's just the normal process of creation, development, validation, etc. It takes time.
It's the irony of wanting a continuous communication to have some media presence but at the same time taking unnecessary risks to make a bad impression...
If this Arkham show is something that won't be exploited for 2 years, maybe it's better to keep it quiet. Like said, we already have all the buzz for The Penguin series and The Batman sequel anyway.

 

[shauner111]

Totally agree. DC has a huge problem with sharing their ideas early.

I think Penguin is shaping up to be an awesome bridge between these first two Batman movies. I’m just as excited for it as I am the movie sequel.

 

[BatsAndNights]

Totally agree. DC has a huge problem with sharing their ideas early.

I think Penguin is shaping up to be an awesome bridge between these first two Batman movies. I’m just as excited for it as I am the movie sequel.

As am I

ReevesVerse in general is the only cinematic universe I'm vaguely interested in right now

The MCU, as far as I'm concerned, ended with Endgame and this is now its epilogue I may catch a movie or two of. ReevesVerse is a diamond turning into nectar