The latest episode ofThe Penguintook a brief moment to divert from Oz Cobb’s bloody mission, and explore Sofia Falcone’s incarceration at the infamous Arkham Asylum. In the world of endless reboots, remakes, spin-offs, sequels, audiobooks, and Reddit fanfiction, it is easy to assume that the scenes were intended to establish the greenlit, canceled, then revivedArkham Asylumspin-off series. However,according to director Craig Zobel, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Part of what has madethe Penguinso successful so far is its commitment to telling an independent, well-crafted story that just happens to be set inthe world of Matt Reeves’The Batman. Speaking toScreen Rant, Craig Zobel said that the scenes in Arkham Asylum are no different.They were not designed to set up theArkham Asylumseries, but only act as character development – something many recent superhero projects have forgotten – for Sofia Falcone. Zobel said:
“I think that by the time we were making this, the other Arkham project was going in a different direction and had different elements to it. So we weren’t beholden to anything, I should say. We didn’t need to set anything up. I happened to know Antonio Campos, who was doing that, so we kind of interacted a little bit, but that wasn’t really the goal of anything with The Penguin, and it’s really just [that] we’re in Arkham to be with Sofia, really more than we’re in Arkham to be telling a story about Arkham so much.”
The Penguin
Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022’s film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family’s empire.
An “Evolved” Version of the Arkham Asylum Spin-Off Is Coming
The Penguinwas initially part of a trio of spin-off shows fromThe Batman. The slate also included aGotham City Police Departmentshow, and the aforementionedArkham Asylumseries. Both shows were canceled earlier this year, primarily because they didn’t feature any major characters. WhileGCPDmay be permanently defunded, there is still a chance that we could see theArkham Asylumshow in the future.
Speaking toEntertainment Weekly,The Batmandirector Matt Reeves revealed that theArkham Asylumspin-off show hasn’t been canceled. Instead,it has evolved as a project, and is undergoing a creative overhaul.The director said:
“The things that we’re talking about [now] are evolved versions of those things. It’s not like that just didn’t work. It was like, we need to evolve this. I would describe it less as something that didn’t work out and more as something that is still along a path toward arriving at its destination.”
The Best Part of The Penguin Isn’t Colin Farrell’s Performance
Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone has stolen the show in The Penguin.
While audiences have become somewhat tired of the endless wave of spin-offs and reboots currently on offer,The Penguinhas been a welcome surprise. The series has been a hit with critics and audiences, and has re-awakenedfans' dormant desires to analyze every frame for Easter eggs,references, and teases for future movies and shows. Fans are now calling for more villains fromThe Batmanuniverse to receive their own spin-off shows. Meanwhile, our fingers are crossed for a Professor Pyg series.
New episodes ofThe Penguinare released on Sundays on HBO and Max.
