According toMax(the streaming service, not just some guy named “Max”),The Penguinis one of the biggest shows the streamer has released sinceThe Last of Us.Starring Colin Farrell,The Penguincarries on the titular villain’s story from Matt Reeves’The Batman, exploring Oz Cobb’s rise to power in Gotham City’s criminal underbelly. The first episode premiered last week, and, according to statistics released by Max, the HBO Original is a major international success.
The Penguinhas garnered the biggest 4-day audience for a new show on Max in every global region, sinceThe Last of Usreleased in 2023. The series waswatched by an average of 5.3 million cross-platform (HBO and Max) viewers in the USover its premiere weekend (viaDeadline). While it fell short of beatingThe Last of Us' record,The Penguinmanaged to outrank the final season ofSuccession(4.9 million) and the second season ofThe White Lotus(4.1 million).
The Penguin
Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022’s film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family’s empire.
As well as being a hit in its own right,The Penguinhas also greatly renewed public interestin Matt Reeves’The Batman. Also available to stream on Max,The Batmanreached 3.5x more accounts than the previous weeks beforeThe Penguin’s debut.Only the first episode of the new series has been released so far. It will be interesting to see whetherThe Penguinwill be able to maintain its viewership figures across the remaining seven episodes.
Could The Penguin Get a Second Season?
Fans have barely finished devouring the first episode ofThe Penguin, and there’s already talk of a second season. The idea for the series came from Colin Farrell’s desire to give Oz more screentime — as he only appeared in a handful of scenes inThe Batman. As well as being a ratings hit,The Penguinhas garnered incredible reviews, sitting at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. All this bodes well for Max to greenlight a second season. But it’s not just fans that want to see a second season ofThe Penguin. Dylan Clark, a producer on the series, believesOz Cobb has more stories to tell.Nothing has been greenlit yet, but Clark hopes that fans will get to see Cobb again in a future season ofThe Penguin. He said:
“There’s absolutely more story inside of Oz and other characters in this world.”
The Penguin Star Reveals the Surprising Batman Movie They Were ‘Obsessed’ With
“I think I found it thrilling and exciting, and it was cartoony.”
The success ofThe Penguinalso bodes well for future spin-offs fromThe Batman Part 2.The Penguinwas initially one of three shows stemming fromThe Batman. However,GCPDandArkham Asylumwere both shelved by Max — although it appears theArkham Asylumseries is back on the table. Matt Reeves (who serves as an executive producer onThe Penguin) hopes the show’s success will lead to more spin-offs, which couldexplore the rest of Batman’s rogues' gallery.Reeves said:
“We are talking to HBO, in long-form, especially as the movies are so focused on being Batman’s point of view, to have the real estate to really look into who these rogue galleries characters are.”
New episodes ofThe Penguinwill be released weekly on Max and HBO.
