Ever since Matt Reeves scored a critical and commercial hit with his blockbuster The Batman in early 2022, fans have been keen to see what comes next in the world of the world of Gotham. The answer arrives this month in the Batman spinoff The Penguin, which stars Colin Farrell as the titular criminal, who’s intent on becoming king of the Gotham criminal underworld following the death of mob boss Carmine Falcone.

This autumn is certainly boom time for those interested in the expanded Batman universe, with Joker: Folie a Deux also arriving in early October. With The Penguin, a huge part of the excitement undoubtedly comes from Farell’s performance in The Batman. Unrecognisable behind the Penguin make-up, the Dublin actor gave a bravura performance simmering with rage, while also hitting notes of melancholy and humour.

For good measure, he also got to participate in perhaps the best cinematic car chase of the past decade, with the Penguin memorably pursued down the rain-lashed Gotham freeway by Robert Pattinson’s Batman. Although The Penguin is set to be considerably darker in tone, creators HBO and Warner will no doubt be hoping to enjoy some of the success of Gotham, the Fox series which debuted a decade ago and explored Commissioner Jim Gordan’s early days in the city’s police department.

Even before The Batman was released, plans were afoot for possible TV spin-offs, one of which was to come at the Gotham police force from a different angle, looking at corruption amongst the city’s cops. Intriguingly, the mooted project was to take inspiration from Sidney Lumet’s classic 1981 police drama Prince Of The City, with Sopranos writer Terence Winter as showrunner. Another series, meanwhile, was pitched as a horror-themed offering set amongst the rogues’ gallery of villains in Arkham Asylum.

Eventually, both projects were shelved, although certain ideas from the police department series have found their way into The Penguin. The trailers for the show have certainly set the scene nicely (well, nastily), with Farrell again excelling amidst the violence, action and mayhem. With Lauren LeFranc onboard as showrunner, the story commences a week after the events of The Batman, as Gotham residents deal with the aftermath of the city being flooded.

Now that a power vacuum exists amongst the city’s criminal class, Oswald “Oz” Cobb, aka the Penguin, is determined to take over, although he has a fight on his hands courtesy of Carmine Falcone’s daughter, Sofia. The character of Sofia first appeared in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s The Long Halloween, one of two genuine masterpieces in the canon of Batman graphic novels – the other being Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke – that continue to have an enormous influence on the extended Gotham universe.

In her graphic novel incarnation, Sofia is eventually revealed to also be a serial killer known as Hangman, who picks off cops in the Gotham PD. This perhaps gives some clues as to her character arc in The Penguin, where she’ll be portrayed by The Wolf Of Wall Street star Cristin Milioti. Also making a welcome appearance in the impressive cast is Michael Kelly, best known as political fixer Doug Stamper from House Of Cards, who features as Falcone underboss Johnny Vitti.

The talent is of equal calibre behind the camera, with the first few episodes helmed by Craig Zobel, who came to prominence via Mare Of Easttown, HBO’s hit 2021 crime drama starring Kate Winslet. Reeves is also back as executive producer, and describes the show as being about the American Dream, noting it revolves around Oz being “underestimated…. Nobody thinks he’s capable of doing anything, but he believes in himself with a visceral violence”.

Further whetting the appetite, The Penguin takes considerable stylistic influence from cult gangster flicks such as Scarface and The Long Good Friday, with some critics also drawing parallels with aspects of The Sopranos. It all makes for a result Farrell himself has described as “very dark, very violent”.

“It’s really heavy, I think,” the actor told a MovieZine interviewer earlier this year. “It certainly was doing it. Which is not to say I didn’t have fun, I had an amazing time. It was a long and really wonderful experience. It’s one man’s rise to what he’s always dreamed of inhabiting, which is a certain power or social status. This is Oswald’s journey, trying to rise to the top through extraordinary obstacles. Lauren LeFranc wrote a really twisted eight hours of television.”

For her part, LeFranc feels she can bring a unique perspective to The Penguin, particularly through the character of Sofia Falcone.

“I think my perspective on Oz, and masculinity in general, is different,” she told Total Film. “And that made me also want to surround him with really interesting, complicated women. In traditional crime dramas, rarely are the women as interesting as the men. So I took this as an opportunity to see what had been done before me, to respect and honour the genre, and then also to evolve it.”

From a homegrown perspective, it’s interesting to see Farrell extend the Irish influence on Gotham. It’s an element that’s only grown over the past 30 years, with U2 first getting in on the act by writing ‘Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me’, their goth-rock smash for the Batman Forever soundtrack (The Edge also wrote the theme music for a mid-noughties animated series also called The Batman).

Subsequently, there were Cillian Murphy and Liam Neeson’s appearances in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Farrell, meanwhile, was accompanied in The Batman by both Peter McDonald and Barry Keoghan, the latter cameoing as the Joker in Arkham Asylum. And as if all that wasn’t enough, Joker: Folie a Deux will see Brendan Gleeson star alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

In terms of the wider picture, The Penguin is intended to act as a bridge of sorts between The Batman and its sequel (currently set for an October 2026 release), with Robert Pattinson confirmed to be making an appearance in the series. It will be compelling seeing how Farrell further finesses his take on the Penguin, with his performance in The Batman bearing comparison with other iconic portrayals, including Burgess Meredith in the mid-’60s TV series, Danny DeVito in Tim Burton’s 1992 blockbuster Batman Returns, and Robin Lord Taylor in Gotham.

The Penguin also occupies an intriguing position in the TV landscape. As has been the case for a long time in film, TV has pivoted towards a larger chunk of shows based around established intellectual property. Having enjoyed a huge hit last year with video game adaptation The Last Of Us (the second series of which is also on the way), HBO’s upcoming slate of programming also includes Dune: Prophecy and It: Welcome To Derry, based on Stephen King’s famed horror bestseller.

But first, of course, it’s back to Gotham for another rip-roaring crime saga. As ever, it should be an epic ride.

• The Penguin is airing on  Sky Atlantic now.