HBO's 'The Penguin' Series: First Four Episodes Runtime Revealed

The upcoming The Batman film spin-off series ‘The Penguin‘ will reportedly have episodes that are each around an hour long. We received details about the first four episodes and their runtime from X user @Cryptic4KQual. The show is scheduled to premiere on HBO on September 19, 2024, and will consist of eight episodes.

The Penguin: First Four Episode Titles, Runtime, and Release Dates

HBO's 'The Penguin' Series: First Four Episodes Runtime Revealed — Image Source: HBO

EP 1 – After Hours
- Runtime: 1 hr 7 mins
- Release Date: September 19, 2024
EP 2 – Inside Man
- Runtime: 56 mins
- Release Date: September 29, 2024
EP 3 – Bliss
- Runtime: 59 mins
- Release Date: October 6, 2024
EP 4 – Cent’Anni
- Runtime: 58 mins
- Release Date: October 13, 2024

In the show, Colin Farrell returns as Oswald “Oz” Cobb / Penguin, Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, Michael Kelly as Johnny Vitti, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni, Deirdre O’Connell as Francis Cobb, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, James Madio as Milos Grapa, Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone, Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone, Theo Rossi as Julian Rush, and Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo. Actors cast in undisclosed roles include François Chau, David H. Holmes, Craig Walker, Jared Abrahamson, and Mark Strong.

The show—created by Lauren LeFranc for HBO—is based on the DC Comics character Penguin. Set one week after the events of The Batman (2022), the series explores the rise to power of Oswald “Oz” Cobb / Penguin in Gotham City’s criminal underworld. It is rated TV-MA and confirms the genres as “crime and drama.”

In an interview with Empire Online, LeFranc said, “Matt Reeves came up with this Scarface story – a rise to power. I turned it into a psychological character study of this man. Mobsters historically are larger than life, so there is that slightly elevated quality to it.” He added, “But he’s just a man, a very complicated man. This is what differentiates him from previous versions of the Penguin in the comics, where he used to come from a wealthy, well-known family. Matt had already made him an underdog in that he was number two to Carmine Falcone in the film, but we didn’t know anything about his family. So it was important to me that he comes from nothing, and he’s really aching to get more status and be seen as more important.”