The Penguin creators have teased what to expect from Barry Keoghan's version of Joker, which was teased in The Batman movie in 2022.
Colin Farrell returns to the role of Batman's Oswald Cobblepot for the eight-episode HBO spinoff drama and has worked with Keoghan in the Oscar-nominated The Banshees of Inisherin.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, The Batman: Part 2 director, Matt Reeves – who is also executive producer on The Penguin – explained how Keoghan will be approaching the seminal character.
He said: "Barry is a wonderful actor. He's very, very special. One of the things that we talked a lot about was the idea, that his worldview is sort of formed by his being disfigured from birth. It was kind of like a cruel joke that life was playing on him, as well.
"His whole philosophy of life, and the laughing that he does in that kind of insidious, upsetting way, comes from the joke that has been played on him in his existence. This is who he is, so that's how he sees the world, so that's our point of entry into him.
"It's dealing with the themes that are Joker themes, but to try and find a different way in, a different point of entry. So that's something we talked a lot about when we're doing the scenes."
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Speaking to Digital Spy exclusively about whether he'd like to clash with Barry's Crown Prince of Crime in The Batman: Part 2, Farrell said: "Oh, yeah, I'd love that. I thought he was fantastic, there were two scenes wasn't there?
"There was the one that was in the film, then the one that was released afterwards. I thought Barry was fantastic in it, and again Mike Marino's work was extraordinary, so creepy, so creepy. I would love to get to work with Barry on that."
"I just know that he'd give it a lot of consideration and a lot of work – Barry works his arse off. He's a fantastic actor, and he gets the head down when he needs to."
As for further spinoffs in The Batman universe, Reeves added: "We are talking to HBO, in long-form, especially as the movies are so focussed on being Batman's point of view, to have the real estate to really look into who these rogue galleries characters are."
Related: The Penguin review - a spiritual Sopranos sequel we didn't know we needed
"In the comics, the rogue's gallery kinda makes themselves in response to this masked vigilante, so while it isn't his origin tale [The Batman], it refers to his origin – it is their origin tale. You're seeing Oz, who's not yet the kingpin; you're seeing Selina, who's not yet Catwoman. You're seeing all of these characters.
"So, the opportunity to look into how these characters come into being, and what that's about psychologically, that, to me, is something that is super-exciting to be able to explore with HBO."
Meanwhile, Digital Spy described The Penguin as a spiritual sequel to The Sopranos in our review. The show has landed a 93% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the next Batman movie had a script update from Matt Reeves and a potential release date from Andy Serkis.
The Penguin will debut on Max in the US on September 19, and NOW and Sky Atlantic in the UK on September 20.
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Laurence Mozafari (he/him) is a multi-award winning journalist, editor, and presenter. A former Editor-in-Chief of Digital Spy, Laurence previously held roles as the site's Editor, Deputy Editor, and Associate Editor focusing on news, social, and video. Laurence hosted the BBC Sounds podcast Obsessed with Peaky Blinders in 2019. He also hosts his own podcast production, Time of My Life, where he interviews fascinating elders about their life lessons, including Only Fools and Horses' Sir David Jason, Star Trek’s George Takei and Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh.
Laurence was named Editorial Director – Youth Audience at Reach in early 2025. Prior to joining Digital Spy, he was previously at Bauer Media working as Digital Editor of Heat magazine's website Heatworld.com, and has also worked at and written for Sky, NME, Q magazine, Grazia, Closer, FHM and dedicated careers website GoThinkBig. He secured a first-class BA journalism degree at Staffordshire University, along with several NCTJ qualifications, and now has 14 years' experience in digital publishing covering TV, movies, music, gaming, tech, showbiz, and travel.
Laurence has been a broadcasting contributor on television and radio, including KISS, Heat Radio, BBC Radio London, Radio 5 Live, and BBC Breakfast.
He is also a visiting lecturer at various universities teaching journalism, including City, University of London, Nottingham Trent, Staffordshire University and London Metropolitan. Laurence has won numerous awards in his journalism career, including the BSME Talent Award’s Best Deputy Editor, the PPA's 30 Under 30, and the New Editor and Editor of the Year at the AOP and BSMEs. He led Digital Spy to win PPA's Digital Content Team of the Year twice, along with the British Media Awards’ Brand of the Year in 2021.
Laurence joined the committee for the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2022 and was named vice-chair in 2025. He has since hosted panels with CEOs of Immediate Media and the Media Trust at the PPA Festival, as well as presenting his own radio show on Green Man Radio at Green Man Festival in 2022. Laurence is also a Brits voting academy member.
Laurence has been lucky enough to interview numerous celebrities, actors, and musicians throughout his career. Arnold Schwarzenegger loved his hair, Jimmy Carr loved his coat and Antonio Banderas gave a shout-out to his mum. Laurence has covered set visits for The Witcher on Netflix and Marvel’s Inhumans, he got Daisy Ridley to do a Chewbacca impression and loves Marvel, PlayStation, Glastonbury and craft beer. Linkedin
