The Penguin: Should You Watch the Series with Colin Farrell ? Critics' Opinions

The Batman spin-off was released on September 20, 2024 on the Max streaming platform. But what did the critics think about it?? Press review.

One of the most anticipated series of the 2024 back-to-school season is finally out. Spin-off of the film  The Batman by Matt Reeves, The Penguin  focuses, as its name suggests, on the rise of Bruce Wayne's nemesis within the Gotham City mafia. Carried by an unfamiliar Colin Farrell, the series also brings together Cristin Miliotti (How I Met Your Mother), Michael Kelly (House of Cards), Clancy Brown (John Wick 4) or even Theo Rossi (Sons of Anarchy ). Prestige on paper, this program released à from September 20th on Max is it worth watching?

With 72% press reviews positive on Metacritic and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, the United States seems seduced. The opinions of the French press are also seduced on The Penguin. Ecran Large salutes a "successful" spin-off from The Batman, praising its "narrative and thematic coherence" as well as the "qualityé of exemplary production from HBO", when Le Parisien salutes &eac;successful "episodes" but "veryès (too ?) talkative". For Allociné, HBO signs "a captivating and violent thriller&quot ;. 

Also won over, Premiere believes that if the series “"avoids the hiccup", it is thanks to "its frenetic story" and the "two solid performances" of Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti. Conversely, Libération criticizes " the series of being “a sad Scorsese pastice”, “stupid and mean”, when Les Num&eacuteriques deplores “a promising note of intent on paper but poorly orchestrated”, the fault of “terribly stereotypical characters”. Now see what the public thinks of the eight episodes, posted every Friday on Max.

series profile

The Penguin is an eight-episode miniseries from the Max streaming service dedicated to Gotham City supervillain Oswald Cobblepot, known as the Penguin. The release of The Penguin on the streaming platform is scheduled for September 20, 2024, at one episode per week. The highly anticipated spin-off, which picks up in the universe imagined by Matt Reeves in The Batman (2022), takes place just after the events of the film, to follow the rise to power of one of Batman's most beloved antagonists.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

Colin Farrell, whose interpretation of the Penguin in The Batman had marked the spirits, will reprise the role of Oswald Cobblepot in the mini-series. À Alongside it, fans of the DC universe find Cristin Milioti (the mother in How I Met You Mother) in the role of Sofia Falcone, the legitimate heir to the criminal empire. It's Michael Zegen, (seen in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), who plays the role of his brother Alberto, while Clancy Brown (Highlander) plays Salvatore Maroni, the legendary capo, main rival of Carmine Falcone , sentenced to years in prison and thirsting for revenge.

​​​What is the plot of The Penguin ?

The miniseries begins after the fall of Carmine Falcone and the flooding of Gotham. After years spent in the shadow of his boss, Oz Cobblepot, faced with a power vacuum, decides to seize his chance, but the different factions of the underworld are not going to make his task any easier… In addition, it seems that the series will be directly linked to The Batman 2 (scheduled for release in 2025) and the universe of Matt Reeves. The latter has indeed revealed that The Penguin wouldn't just be a standalone series: it would lay the groundwork for the The Batman sequel, meaning fans who want to fully understand Reeves' BatVerse films will also have to watch the spinoff.

• Colin Farrell: Oswald Cobblepot (The Penguin)
• Cristin Milioti: Sofia Falcone
• Alex Anagnostidis: Ray
• Clancy Brown: Salvatore Maroni
• John Turturro: Carmine Falcone
• Michael Zegen: Alberto Falcone~6 0~/li>
• Carmen Ejogo
• Shohreh Aghdashloo
• Michael Kelly
• Deirdre O'Connell
• James Madio
• Scott Cohen
• François Chau
• David H. Holmes
• Theo Rossi

0~li>Rhenzy Feliz

• Anthony Gullotta

The Penguin is available à from September 20, 2024 on the new Max streaming platform, resulting from the merger between HBO Max and Discovery +. It is possible to watch HBO content (among others) in France on the available platform, launched in France on June 11, by subscribing to one of the three offers: the one with advertising (5.99 euros per month), the standard one without advertising (9.99 euros per month) and the premium one (13.99 euros per month).