Colin Farrell on filming the shocking ‘Penguin’ finale

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains key plot details from the finale of HBO’s The Penguin, now streaming on Max.

It was a dark night on set.

During a question-and-answer session following the Nov. 10 screening of The Penguin finale at the Saban Media Center, Colin Farrell described the somber tone that the entire cast and crew took on the night of their final shoot for the limited Max series.

This was the night Farrell filmed the series’ shocking finale, in which his character Oswald Cobb murders beloved mentee Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz).

Feliz described the moment before his death as perhaps the most vulnerable interaction between Oz and Victor in the entire series. He suggested that the inner layers of masculinity between the two men prevent them from explicitly saying the words “I love you” and that Victor Oz conveyed this message by comparing the latter to what the family’s young teenager was saying next comes.

“It really took away the last bit of innocence,” Farrell said of the scene. “Someone who gave so much of his life, who suffered so much loss and sacrificed so much loyalty, so much love… you could see the light being extinguished by the person he had given it all to.”

The Irish actor explained how the team behind The Penguin had spent a year together at the time, leading to a particularly close bond between the cast and crew. He shared both his hatred and respect for this narrative that ended Victor’s storyline.

“There was a dark energy that night,” Farrell said. “If you ask the audience to fall in love with the character, and I think the audience fell in love with Rhenzy’s Vic, then the crew will definitely fall in love with that character too.”

Deirdre O’Connell, who plays Oz’s mother Francis Cobb, said she shed a single tear on the final page of the show’s final episode while in a vegetative state, unable to experience the Penthouse Promise that her gangster son has finally fulfilled her.

O’Connell said the description of the heartbreaking scene played through her mind almost every day during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. She said she had no specific plan for executing her performance in Francis’ final moments, but that Farrell did something scary that forced her to react.

“I don’t even know if he knew he was doing it, and I don’t know how a human being can do that, but he withdrew his love,” O’Connell said. “It was absolutely clear in the room that Oz had withdrawn his love and I felt it and my blood ran cold. He gave me the tear.”

Showrunner Lauren LeFranc explained how she wanted to create a version of Oz that was flawed but still evoked empathy from viewers. She expressed her desire to present this portrayal of Oswald Cobb as an examination of the man in the antagonist that fans of the Batman universe may know from previous portrayals on screen or in comics.

Farrell emphasized the character’s complexity and layered psychology as crucial aspects in his decision to commit to the role. He added that it was LeFranc’s understanding of the relationship between Oz and Francis – particularly the emotional subtext of the relationships between sons and their mothers – that ultimately fascinated him.

“It was so human and so relatable,” Farrell said. “It was painful, but there was beauty there too.”