Matt Reeves reveals scrapped Batman cameo idea for ‘The Penguin’ that ‘ended up causing too much fanfare’

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

Before the release of the spin-off show, the creative team was pretty clear that the Caped Crusader would not appear in the series.

But as it turns out, he almost made a cameo. “As we were writing the season, we discussed many times whether there might be a crossover that felt earned,” Reeves told Entertainment Weekly. “We tried a few different ideas conceptually, none of it was ever written, but nothing seemed to fit together enough to feel earned.”

One of those ideas was for Bruce to show up with Oz’s right-hand man, young Vic. “But even that messed things up too much,” Reeves explained.

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

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

The Batman 2 is scheduled to be released on October 2, 2026. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and series to find out everything else you can expect, or check out our The Penguin review for our spoiler-free verdict on all eight episodes.