Director Explains Why Robert Pattinson’s Batman Doesn’t Appear In HBO’s Penguin

HBO’s The Penguin only exists because The Batman was wildly successful and audiences really gravitated to Colin Farrell’s against-type rendition of Oswald Cobblepot, or Oz Cobb as he’s known in this universe. So why isn’t Robert Pattinson’s caped crusader anywhere to be found in the show’s eight-episode tour of Gotham’s warring criminal underground? He had bigger fish to fry, suggests the director behind the upcoming The Batman Part II.

“This was a time of great turmoil in the city, it’s literally the week after what happened,” Matt Reeves told Digital Spy (via Gamesradar). “Much of the city is in desperation, so police can’t get everywhere, there’s crime everywhere, it’s a very, very dangerous time.”

The 2022 Batman movie ends with a series of explosions demolishing Gotham’s seawall. As a result, the downtown is flooded and the crime-ridden metropolis is thrust into even more chaos. “[Batman’s] out there trying to grapple with the aftermath of everything that happened, which to some degree he blames himself for,” Reeves added.

That’s a sensible enough in-universe explanation for why, throughout all of The Penguin’s twists, turns, and criminal empire scheming, Bruce Wayne never drops in on Cobb to try to rein things in. Showrunner Lauren LeFranc previously suggested that excluding Batman helped keep the focus on the “grit and muck and grime” of Gotham’s city streets and Penguin’s journey to claw his way up through its ranks.

But that doesn’t mean a Pattinson cameo was never being considered. “Over the course of writing the season, we discussed many times whether or not there might be some cross-through that would feel earned,” Reeves previously told Entertainment Weekly. “We tried a few different ideas conceptually, nothing that was ever written ultimately, but nothing seemed to quite gel in a way that felt earned.”

As it stands, fans who finished The Penguin season 1 last Sunday will have to wait until The Batman Part II in 2026 to see Pattinson put the black cowl back on. After that, there’s always a chance he could appear in season 2 of The Penguin if the show ends up getting renewed.