Batman spin-off The Penguin unlikely to return after HBO drops Emmys hint

The show will compete in the limited series category

The acclaimed Batman spin-off series The Penguin looks unlikely to return for a second season after HBO submitted it to the limited series category for the upcoming Emmys.

Continuing series would typically compete in the drama category.

While some HBO shows, such as Big Little Lies, have returned after being categorized as a limited series, it does suggest HBO has no current plans for The Penguin to continue.

Though its ultimate fate is not absolutely clear.

Last month Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group, told Deadline: “The Penguin is one of those things where — and it’s interesting, because when you talk with everyone involved, everyone is interested in possibly revisiting those characters and doing more — it was very much designed as a limited series. But I would never say never.”

He added: “I think if we can get the creative stars to line up in the right way, and the talent is available — because we certainly wouldn’t want to do this without Colin [Farrell] and Cristin [Milioti] and that team — I would say it’s definitely a possibility, but there’s nothing in the works at the moment.”

Farrell and Milioti are among the stars that HBO has put forward for Emmys in their respective categories, along with Rhenzy Feliz for Best Supporting Actor, Deirdre O’ Connell for Best Supporting Actress and Lauren LeFranc as showrunner for Outstanding Limited Series.

Colin Farrell has been submitted for the Emmy for Best Actor in a Limited Series for his work on HBO’s ‘The Penguin’ (HBO)

Farrell is expected to return to his role as Oswald “Oz” Cobb in the upcoming DC film The Batman: Part 2, directed by Matt Reeves, which was recently delayed until October 2027.

His performance in the television series was hailed as one of the best on-screen portrayals of a comic book villain.

In a three-star review of The Penguin, The Independent’s television critic Nick Hilton wrote: “The vision that showrunner Lauren LeFranc has extracted from Matt Reeves’ The Batman is more grown-up than Bruno Heller’s Gotham, which covered similar territory on Channel 5.

He added: “You just need to look at the emo character design of Robin Lord Taylor’s Penguin to appreciate that. The Penguin offers a different vision – different, too, to Danny DeVito’s seminal performance – and one that will appeal to comic book aficionados who prefer the grime of Gotham to the multicolored Marvel miasma.

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But the “inmates of Arkham aren’t the only ones who are straightjacketed. Comic book adaptations cannot truly serve both their native audience and televisual snobs. For better or worse, they always default to their home camp, and The Penguin is no different.”