If you were hoping to see Robert Pattinson’s Batman in ‘The Penguin’ series, you will be disappointed.
Director Matt Reeves confirmed that the Dark Knight won’t appear in the upcoming HBO show. Reeves told Total Film that the decision was made to focus on Gotham’s criminal underworld instead of including Batman. “Rob is not going to be in the show,” Reeves said. “I’d rather take the band-aid off now. We did talk about all that, but we felt the best way to do this was to go on a grand exploration of a guy grabbing for power in this moment.”
Batman’s presence will be felt in the background, but the series will focus on Oswald Cobblepot. To explain the reason behind this idea, Reeves said, “When I’m doing a Batman story, Batman and Bruce is going to be the main point of view. To explore the rogues’ gallery, they could never get the real estate we can do in a series. So Batman is in this show only as a sense that he’s a presence. You’re aware that all of these events began because of the Riddler. But the Riddler doesn’t appear and Batman doesn’t appear.”
The creative team thought about including a cameo from Bruce Wayne at one point, but they decided against it. Reeves said they wanted to explore the city’s criminals without taking attention away from them by adding Batman into the mix.
Rumors earlier this year claimed Robert Pattinson might appear as Batman in the show, but these were proven false. The show will focus solely on Cobblepot and his struggle for control over Gotham’s underworld.
‘The Penguin’ premieres on HBO/Max on September 19. The show will have eight episodes, airing weekly.
