HBO Max, I Mean, “Max,” Released A Teaser Trailer For “The Batman” Spin-Off Series “The Penguin” Starring Colin Farrell

Yesterday, Warner Bros. Discovery officially announced that next month, HBO Max will merge with Discover Plus and become just MAX. That is a smart branding move since they’re erasing a brand name (HBO) that most people know well and replacing it with the name of every other neighborhood dog on your block. Max will launch on May 13th, and prices will range from $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year for a subscription with ads to $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year for the ultimate 4k ad-free subscription. Max (ugh, that name) also announced new shows, including that Harry Potter series, and served up trailers for their upcoming shows. That includes a little teaser for Matt Reeves’ The Batman spin-off series The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell continuing to fight the hot under forty-five tons of wrinkly prosthetics.

Variety says that The Penguin is shooting now, and it will follow Colin Farrell’s Penguin rise to power as he tries to control Gotham City while trying to control all the rubber pieces on his face!

“The Penguin,” which is currently in production, will run for eight episodes. Spoiler alert for that film: After Paul Dano’s the Riddler kills Carmine Falcone, one of Gotham City’s top mob bosses, he floods the major downtown area in a coordinated terrorist attack — leaving Farrell’s Cobblepot with a city in chaos and a power vacuum within Gotham’s underworld.

Costarring with Farrell are Cristin Milioti (“Made for Love”) as Carmine’s daughter Sofia Falcone; Michael Zegen (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) as Carmine’s son Alberto Falcone; and Clancy Brown (“John Wick: Chapter 4”) as Salvatore Maroni, who used to be the top gangster in Gotham. They’re joined by Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Carmen Ejogo, François Chau and David H. Holmes.

Here’s the teaser:

It’s giving comic book Tony Soprano. Matt Reeves spilled that his mob inspo for Penguin’s story was pulled from a little bit of Scarface and a little bit of The Long Good Friday to give it an American Dream vibe. Although I’m not totally sure how The Long Good Friday is an American Dream story since it’s a British movie…but since it’s also about an angry bald mob guy, I’ll let it pass. And I appreciate Colin’s dedication to sitting for hours in a make-up chair just to steal a naturally ugly actor’s job.

And here are a few more trailers for “Max’s” shows like that Harry Potter series, The Regime starring Kate Winslet, and the fourth season of True Detective starring Jodie Foster.

Pic: YouTube