Matt Reeves reveals the scrapped Batman cameo idea for The Penguin that "ended up throwing things off too much"

Robert Pattinson in The Batman
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

The Batman director Matt Reeves has revealed the scrapped Bruce Wayne cameo idea that almost made it into The Penguin.

Ahead of the spin-off show's release, the creative team were pretty clear that we wouldn't be seeing the Caped Crusader show up in the series.

But, as it turns out, he almost did make a cameo. "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 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."

One such idea was Bruce appearing with Oz's right hand, young Vic. "But even that ended up throwing things off too much," Reeves explained.

But, we will be seeing Oz show up again in The Batman 2. Not only does the ending of The Penguin feed directly into the sequel (and if you've seen The Penguin finale, you'll know exactly what we mean) – but Colin Farrell himself has revealed that he'll be back.

"I signed up for three Batman films, but I didn’t know if I'd be in the second film," Farrell revealed, adding: "I was told I have five or six scenes." However, he also shared that he hasn't yet seen a script, so we'll have to wait for more details for now.

The Batman 2 is set to arrive on October 2, 2026. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and shows for everything else that's in store, or see our The Penguin review for our spoiler-free verdict on all eight episodes.

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Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

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