The Penguin waddles onto screens September 19, debuts new trailer

The new kingpin of Gotham will ascend to the throne on September 19. At a panel for The Penguin at San Diego Comic-Con today, the show’s lead creatives, including showrunner Lauren Lefranc, announced the official premiere date of the newly minted HBO Original series. They also debuted the series’ official trailer, which you can watch below:

The series is a spinoff of Matt Reeves’ 2022 film The Batman. It follows Oswald “Oz Cobb” Cobblepot, a.k.a. the Penguin (Colin Farrell), as he violently claws his way to the top of Gotham’s criminal underworld. It’s set one week after the events of The Batman, after the Riddler (Paul Dano) kills Gotham’s previous top mob boss, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). Now, the whole city is flooded and there’s a power vacuum among the city’s gangsters. It’s the perfect environment for a Penguin to thrive.

Previously, two teaser trailers set up the basic premise for the show: after Falcone dies, his family scrambles to get the line of succession in order. Falcone had two (legitimate) children: Alberto (Michael Zegen) and Sofia (Cristin Milioti). As Falcone’s former underboss Johnny Vitti (Michael Kelly) struggles to get Alberto and Sofia in line, Oz capitalizes on the chaos and plots a takeover of the Falcone family business. 

The new trailer shows Cobblepot trying to seize control of Gotham’s drug trade, only to run straight into Milioti’s Sofia—a.k.a. “The Hangman,” fresh out of a stint in Arkham. Oh, also: A mentorship with Rhenzy Feliz’s much younger gangster, and a whole bunch of Oedipal issues. 

Farrell (joining via satellite), Milioti, LeFranc, Feliz, Reeves, producer Dylan Clark, and Penguin makeup designer Mike Marino were all on hand for the trailer debut, and spoke about the show during the accompanying panel in Hall H, with Reeves referring to the series as an installment in his “Batman Epic Crime Saga.” Lefranc, meanwhile, expressed her affection for the twisted character, comparing her version of him to notorious (but highly charismatic) Providence, RI mayor Buddy Cianci. Clark, meanwhile, described both Lefranc and Farrell as “psychologically wounded children”—but in, like, a complimentary way. Farrell, meanwhile, joked that he’s “Never felt such lack of ownership of a character,” bantering back and forth with makeup designer Marino. After tossing more praise his star’s way, Reeves then made it clear: The Penguin will take his little corner of the Batman universe right up to the The Batman sequel he’s planning on shooting next year.

The Penguin premieres Sep. 19 on HBO.