The Penguin Series Recasting A Major Character?
The Batman spinoff, The Penguin series, will begin production next year. The new series is written by showrunner and executive producer Lauren LeFranc, with Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, and Colin Farrell as producers. The Illuminerdi has reported that the process of casting a major character, Don Salvatore Maroni, has begun.
The limited series has been ordered by HBO Max and will be set in the universe created by Matt Reeves, which saw Robert Pattison as The Batman. The new series will focus on the Batman villain, the Penguin, and is expected to pick up immediately following the events of the film.
Sources at HBO Max have revealed that the search for an actor to portray Salvatore Maroni in The Penguin series is underway. Casting is calling for a man in his 60s to portray the Maroni crime boss.
This character would be newly cast for The Penguin series since an uncredited extra portrayed Maroni in The Batman but was only featured for a short time. In the movie, Maroni’s properties were were hit by police in the biggest raid in the Gotham City Police Department’s history.
It would then be revealed that Maroni was set up by the Falcone family, led by Carmine Falcone. The casting of Salvatore Maroni indicates that The Penguin series will continue the rivalry between the two crime families.
At this time, the only official casting announcements are that of Farrell, who will once again portray Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin–referred to as Oz in the press releases–and Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone. Sofia is the daughter of Carmine Falcone and The Penguin’s new nemesis. The new series will pit Sofia against the Penguin for control of Gotham City.
Farrell told Variety that he is excited to continue exploring The Penguin and his rise in the ranks of Gotham’s criminal underbelly. He believes it will be good to see the character back on the streets of Gotham for some madness and mayhem.
The Batman saw John Turturro as Carmine Falcone and Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, aka Seline Kyle, who is the daughter of Falcone. It would be amazing to see both of these actors join The Penguin series.
The addition of Selina Kyle to The Penguin series would add a dynamic to the Falcone family, not to mention this series will feature Catwoman’s Sofia who was introduced into the comics in the mid-1990s. She was portrayed by Crystal Reed in the Fox series Gotham.
There have been no announcements as to a projected release date for The Penguin series. With casting just beginning, it could be quite some time before fans see a release date for the new series that will air on HBO Max.
