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HBO’s The Penguin is set in the universe of director Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and many wondered if Robert Pattinson might appear in the TV show as Batman or Bruce Wayne. But he won’t.
Reeves, who is an executive producer on the TV show, told Total Film that he sees himself as a “point-of-view filmmaker,” and that didn’t leave room for Batman or Bruce Wayne to appear in the show. At least not physically.
Batman does exist in the world, and the show is set against the backdrop of the events of what happened in the 2022 film The Batman, so his “presence” is felt, but Batman does not appear–nor does Paul Dano’s Riddler.
“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,” Reeves said. “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.”
Pressed to confirm if Bruce Wayne would appear, Reeves shut it all down, saying Pattinson is not in the show–though it was considered. “Rob is not going to be in the show,” he 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.”
The Penguin debuts on September 19, featuring Colin Farrell in the title role. Michael Kelly also stars in the series as Johnny Vitti, alongside Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, James Madio as Milos Grapa, Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone, Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone, Theo Rossi as Julian Rush, and Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo.
Farrell has said The Penguin is “really dark and really heavy.” The Oscar-nominated actor also said the show is “incredibly violent” and “really twisted.”
In addition to The Penguin, Reeves is coming back to make The Batman II, which brings back Pattinson as the Caped Crusader. Unfortunately, though, the movie was recently delayed to 2026.
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