Colin Farrell Already Wants Penguin Show To Be Canceled?

He is referring, of course, to the complex suit and prosthesis that helped transform this handsome leading man into the overweight (and overly creepy) Batman villain. Colin Farrell has great love for his Penguin character, and the show getting canceled was the last thing on his mind when he agreed to star in this ambitious spinoff.

But the annoyance of regularly putting on the suit and head for the role began to wear on him throughout the filming of the first season, resulting in him complaining to pretty much anybody who would listen.

In the same Total Film interview where Colin Farrell seemingly rooted for Penguin to go ahead and get canceled, he admitted that he had very mixed emotions and that some of his negative reaction comes down to his own “grumpy gratitude.”

By that, he means that he has great affection for the show (“I loved it,” he says) and he is “honored” to follow in the footsteps of previous Penguin actors like Burgess Meredith (who starred in the seminal 1966 Batman TV show with Adam West) and Danny DeVito (who became the grotesque supervillain of Tim Burton’s 1992 Batman Returns).  

Because of this, he felt extremely “privileged” to play the role in both The Batman and this Max spinoff show. Ironically enough, though, Colin Farrell didn’t actively voice his desire for Penguin to get canceled until showrunner Lauren LeFranc began asking about his willingness to even star in a second season.

At first, the actor said “absolutely,” but realized that he never wanted to don the head and suit that transformed him into the iconic villain ever again. Still, Farrell isn’t completely closing the door on this character, demurely noting that “maybe in a year” he would be willing to reprise the role.

For all of Colin Farrell’s aforementioned grumpiness about Penguin, that show potentially getting canceled doesn’t mean we won’t see him suit up once again. He is slated to appear in The Batman 2, a sequel that will be very intimately connected to the television show. Returning director Matt Reeves has previously stated that Penguin will be an “entry point” for audiences interested in the continuing adventures of the Caped Crusader, and superfans will likely wish to tune into the expansion of this innovative superhero universe.

If you’d like to see Colin Farrell’s latest outing as the Penguin and maybe even keep the show from getting canceled, you can stream the spinoff on Max on September 20. For longtime Batman fans, Penguin promises the most intimate look at Gotham City’s underworld since the conclusion of the Gotham series. It’s a Two-Face style coin-flip as to whether this show fizzles or becomes must-see TV, and we honestly can’t wait to see where it lands.

Source: Total Film