Neither Batman nor Bruce Wayne will appear at all in The Penguin show, but it was considered

The Penguin starring Colin Farrell will follow Oswald Cobblepot as he tries to take over Gotham City’s criminal underworld shortly after the events of Matt Reeves’ The Batman left a power vacuum. You can expect the same stunning imagery that permeated the film, but the titular caped crusader — and his billionaire alter-ego — will not be showing up to rain on Penguin’s parade.

In a preview from a recent interview with GamesRadar’s Total Film magazine, the director of the most recent Batman outing and Executive Producer of The Penguin, talked about his reasoning for focusing solely on The Penguin’s character.

“I’m a point-of-view filmmaker,” Reeves said, “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. 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.”

Still, Reeves mentions the team did briefly talk about bringing Batman into the fold.

“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.”

While Batman’s absence at a time when Gotham’s criminal underbelly is going through such important changes might strike fans as very out-of-character, Reeves’ point is understandable to a degree. Also, it’s undeniable that Robert Pattinson’s absence will not only help the spotlight not get stolen from its titular Penguin, but also help keep the budget on a much more TV-series-friendly range.

To make up for the absence of Batman as Penguin’s main foil, the show will feature Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone. She’s the daughter of the late Carmine Falcone who’s fresh out of Arkham State Hospital and ready to throw her hat in the ring for the control of Gotham’s crime world.

The Penguin will run for 8 episodes and premieres on September 19 on HBO Max.