The Penguin Showrunner Dashes Fans Hopes With New Announcement

The Batman star Robert Pattinson was reportedly spotted on set of The Penguin, but he certainly won't be making an appearance in the series, showrunner Lauren LeFranc confirms to SFX Magazine.

The Penguin is an upcoming spin-off series featuring Colin Farrell as the titular Oswald Cobblepot, who also appeared in Matt Reeves' 2022 film The Batman.

Speculation has been rife across social media since the series was first announced that Robert Pattinson's Batman would make a sneaky appearance. However, that dream is no more.

"I understand why people's desire would be to have Batman, or to think that unless Batman's in a show or a film then it doesn't have the same punch," LeFranc said.

She says that The Penguin "packs a different punch."

"Matt's films are through the lens of the Batman, so you're high up, looking down on the city. It's a different perspective." LeFranc said. "With Oz, you're in the city streets, you're in the grit and the muck and the grime. He's looking up, wanting to claw his way to the top."

LeFranc told SFX that this show will be "a different experience" and went on to say that she believes "Gotham is an interesting enough city that it deserves to have more doors unlocked within it, and for us to walk through those and see what we think."

Matt Reeves serves as executive producer on the series and says he feels The Penguin is "an extension of what is fundamentally there. We know this is the world of Batman."

He continued, saying, "You're going down a different alley. So the spectre of Batman is there. The spectre of the Riddler is there. The spectre of everything that happens in the last movie is there. It informs it. And it's exactly where we begin."

So Pattinson won't be peeked in The Penguin, but you'll feel his presence – and all the other Gotham icons – nonetheless.