Colin Farrell’s Penguin from ‘The Batman’ could open the umbrella on his own HBO Max spinoff

Details are slight and there’s no firm word on whether he’s definitely set to take up the starring role, but Colin Farrell’s heavily made-over Penguin character from director Matt Reeves’ The Batman is reportedly heading to HBO Max to terrorize Gotham in a connected spinoff series.

Multiple outlets are reporting that a series based on the upcoming big-screen version of the DC villain is in early development at the streaming service, with Reeves executive producing alongside fellow The Batman collaborator Dylan Clark. Farrell himself has been approached to play the Penguin in the spinoff, reports Variety, though “no deal is currently in place.”

Described as being in the “very early stages” of development, the series reportedly will be written by Lauren LeFranc (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hemlock Grove, Chuck), and will take a dark dive into the Penguin’s ascent to his place of canonical criminal prominence in Gotham’s seedy underworld of corruption and grift. Reeves and Clark reportedly would serve as EPs via Reeves’ 6th & Idaho and Clark’s Dylan Clark Productions banners, with Warner Bros. Television producing.

Early looks at Farrell’s take on the Penguin in The Batman show a dramatically disfigured villain –– one whose prosthetic grotesque features transform the actor underneath into something sinister indeed. While there’s no early word on a possible premiere date for the spinoff, Farrell is set to light up Gotham alongside stars Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, and Andy Serkis when The Batman crusades into theaters in March, 2022.