Cristin Milioti auditioned a bunch of the comic book adaptations before landing The Penguin

In a sea of Dakota Johnsons and Aaron Taylor-Johnsons who’ve jumped at the chance to dig their own past superhero output, the comic book movie world somehow skipped right over Cristin Milioti. “I’ve tested for them all, baby,” she told The Washington Post of her desperate bid to wear a cape and Spandex. “They were not interested.”

Apparently, Milioti—who stars as convicted serial killer and former Arkham Asylum inmate Sofia Falcone in upcoming HBO series The Penguin—has been a comic fan for decades, so this role is taking her full circle. When she was a kid, the actor made her dad take her to see Batman Forever “several times” in theaters, even though she acknowledges to the outlet that “it’s not even one of the good ones.”

After all those failed auditions for other franchises, The Penguin creator Lauren LeFranc finally recognized how much the How I Met Your Mother actor had to offer Gotham. “It immediately made sense,” she told The Washington Post of casting Milioti, which she said was a done deal the moment the actor walked into the room. “I really think what she brings to this type of complicated, interesting, dark, funny, emotional woman is really spectacular.” 

Part of that is sympathy for a character that LeFranc reimagined as “an innocent steered toward insanity by her family’s sadistic schemes.” “I guess I empathized with her,” Milioti shared. “There’s that phrase of ‘hurt people hurt people,’ and obviously we’re living in a world that is completely defined by that right now.”

Milioti didn’t tease much about the series apart from her thoughts on the character, but her co-star, Colin Farrell, did give a little more insight in an interview this past spring. “It’s dark, that’s what I can tell you about it. It’s really dark,” he said. “Which is not to say I didn’t have fun, I had an amazing time. But it’s incredibly violent. It’s one man’s rise to what he’s always dreamed of inhabiting, which is a certain power or social status.”

The Penguin premieres September 19 on HBO.