If there actually ends up being a second season of "The Penguin," is Colin Farrell down to don the makeup again? His answer may surprise you. Warning: major spoilers ahead.
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00:00If there actually ends up being a second season of The Penguin,
00:03is Colin Farrell down to don the makeup again? His answer may surprise you.
00:08Warning. Major spoilers ahead.
00:10By the end of The Penguin, any admiration we might have had for Oscob is completely eradicated
00:15after he strangles his young protégé, Victor, to death, thereby completing his
00:19arc from ambitious underdog to full-fledged evil villain.
00:22It wasn't for nothing.
00:30In reality, that arc was never really an arc in the traditional sense. Much like Walter White in
00:35Breaking Bad, Oz was always the man he revealed himself to be by the end of the series. Nonetheless,
00:40his apparent transformation in The Penguin feels like one long rebuke of our collective proclivity
00:45to root for truly heinous figures. The aforementioned Walter White is one example,
00:50but Tony Soprano and myriad mob figures from film history are more appropriate references.
00:55So, you have a show that is not only popular but actually feels like it has something to say.
00:59Plus, it very successfully sets up the next big installment in Matt Reeves' Batman epic
01:04crime saga. As such, the inevitable calls for a second season will soon abound,
01:08and it seems star Colin Farrell has one specific condition to return as the odious Ozcob.
01:14While Oz was a significant part of 2022's The Batman,
01:17Paul Dano's Riddler was the main villain, meaning Colin Farrell's scenes were relatively few.
01:23Don't let me hurt you.
01:24You better watch it. You know my reputation.
01:28Yeah, I do.
01:30But for the villain's streaming series, the Irish star had to don extensive makeup every day,
01:34which meant that when The Penguin first debuted, things didn't look all that positive in terms
01:39of getting Farrell back in the makeup chair for a second go-round. Farrell hated his Penguin
01:43costume more than you could possibly imagine, with the actor telling Total Film,
01:47When I finished, I was like, I never want to put that f----- suit and that f----- hat on again.
01:52Thankfully, following the success of the show, it seems the actor has softened on the idea
01:56somewhat. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the prospect of a second season, Farrell said,
02:00If there's a great idea, and the writing was really muscular and as strong or stronger
02:05on the page than it was the first season, of course I would do it.
02:09Shoulders back. Take up space, okay?
02:11In order to see Oz return as the star of his own series, then, the showrunners will have to
02:16ensure they have an idea good enough to actually justify another slog through Gotham's gutters with
02:20The Penguin. What's more, it seems the fan response to The Penguin has been the real
02:24key to piquing Farrell's interest in a potential season two, with the actor adding,
02:29For me, the bar for success is not very high. It's, do most people like it? Just the simplicity
02:33of that. I love being in things that are critically approved. It's much better than
02:37the alternative, but I've been around long enough to know that it's the audience who
02:41are really the most important critics.
02:42But what about that lingering question of whether Farrell would sit for hours in the
02:46makeup chair again? Asked about his apparent disdain for the OzCobb makeup routine,
02:50Farrell told The Hollywood Reporter that his previous comment was taken
02:53out of its energetic context, adding,
02:55I was f----d with anyone who'd listen to me. It's the way I speak sometimes. I can't wait
02:59to finish this. That kind of thing. I get anxious right now just thinking about sitting in the chair
03:04for hours."
03:05However, he went on to say,
03:06But I always loved the material, and it was never lost on me the privilege I felt to inhabit a
03:11character that's lived so long in comic book form originally, and then through various
03:15iterations on TV and in film. Regardless, everything really hinges on the success of
03:20The Batman Part II. Needless to say, its performance will surely dictate whether we do,
03:24in fact, see a second season of The Penguin. Beyond that consideration, there is the sense
03:29that Season 1 of the show served a very clear purpose, taking OzCobb from ambitious mob
03:33foot soldier to Gotham's crime kingpin, and very much establishing him as the villain with
03:38which Batman fans are so familiar. With that in mind, it seems far more likely that Matt
03:43Reeves and his team will be looking to give other villains the premium drama treatment and try to
03:47imitate the success they had with Farrell's foe, not to mention the fact that Reeves has
03:51previously spoken about other series set in his Gotham, which might take precedence moving
03:56forward. Still, there's no doubt that Farrell himself is effortlessly charismatic as OzCobb,
04:01so much so that HBO and Reeves might very well want to double down on his appeal for another go
04:05round. For now, we'll have to wait to see how The Batman Part II performs to get a real sense
04:10of what to expect next.