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The WGA writers’ strike has been going for three weeks now, and many shows and movies have halted production due to the studios’ unwillingness to negotiate in good faith. And the latest project to be affected is The Batman spin-off series, The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell.
According to Deadline, The Penguin was set to film Tuesday in Westchester, NY, but WGA East picketers, Teamsters, and local guilds refused to cross the picket line.
The series picks up where Matt Reeves’s The Batman left off. A power vacuum has been created in the wake of Carmine Falcone’s murder at the hands of The Riddler, and Oswald Cobblepot is bound and determined to fill it. However, that is not to say that the rest of Gotham’s criminal underworld will let him.
“It starts a week after The Batman ends, so Gotham is still somewhat underwater,” Farrell previously told Extra, referring to The Batman’s third act that saw Paul Dano’s Riddler instigate a plan to flood Gotham.
Craig Zobel, who directed the limited series The Mare of Easttown, is set to helm the eight-episode series. Lauren LeFranc (Impulse, Agents of SHIELD) is set to pen the script. Farrell will also executive-produce along with director Matt Reeves and producer Dylan Clark. Colin Farrell reprises his role as Cobblepot from the film, and is joined by Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone and Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni. Maroni is infamous among comics fans as the man who disfigured D.A. Harvey Dent in court with acid, unleashing his dual personality of Two-Face.
The Penguin joins Daredevil: Born Again, Billions, P-Valley, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, and several others on the list of shows that have temporarily shuttered production because of the strike. The writing work has also ceased on Stranger Things, Cobra Kai, Abbott Elementary, Severance, Good Trouble, and Yellowjackets.
The Penguin does not yet have a release date.
