Sky has swooped for The Penguin.
Max‘s Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios drama series starring Colin Farrell as the titular character will air day-and-date with the pay-TV network in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy, in one of Sky’s biggest deals in recent months, which was struck at the LA Screenings.Launching later this year on Max and created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin sees Farrell reprise his role as the Gotham City gangster from Matt Reeves‘ The Batman. Cast also includes Theo Rossi, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown, and Michael Zegen. The series will launch in the fall on Max, Sky Atlantic and Sky streamer Now.The move is a major buying coup for Sky – its second in recent weeks following the acquisition of all seasons of The Walking Dead plus spin-offs. Deadline understands The Penguin has been acquired outside of the Comcast-owned network’s pre-existing output deal with HBO. That deal runs down at the end of next year but some tentpoles such as House of the Dragon and The Last of Us will remain on Sky for longer. Sky also holds rights to the likes of Justice League, Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad.Katie Keenan, Sky’s Group Director of Acquisitions, called The Penguin “arguably DC’s answer to The Sopranos.”“The Penguin will add to our roster of tentpole shows as we aim to provide our customers with the best U.S. programing in addition to our impressive lineup of Sky original TV series and films,” she told Deadline, flagging that Seth MacFarlane’s Ted became the network’s highest-rating U.S. comedy series of all time earlier this year.The Penguin was a key part of Warner Bros Discovery’s roster at the recent LA Screenings and while the screenings showcased a “diverse range of drama and limited series,” Keenan reflected on how Sky was “not able to see the volume of content we had anticipated” due to the ongoing fallout from the Hollywood labor strikes.“The screening window will continue into the summer as more shows become available to screen so we look forward to assessing these alongside the shows we saw in LA,” she added.Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin is produced by Reeves’ 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. The series is executive produced by Reeves, Dylan Clark, Farrell, Bill Carraro and Daniel Pipski. LeFranc is writer and showrunner. Craig Zobel directs the first three episodes.
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