(This story contains spoilers from The penguin season finale.)

Reports that Colin Farrell is done with The penguin are greatly exaggerated.

The Irish actor made a comment a few months ago that sounded like he was fed up with the Batman villain role and the grueling daily ritual of three hours in the makeup chair. (“I never want to put on that damn suit and that damn head again,” he said Total film.) But that was before the critically acclaimed crime drama premiered to an outpouring of adoration from fans, with strong HBO ratings growing week over week (and also generating plenty of awards for Farrell and his castmates).

“If there’s a great idea (for season two), and the writing was really powerful and as strong or stronger on the page than in the first season, of course I would do that,” Farrell says. The Hollywood Reporter.

It was the fans’ response that helped him develop his mindset, says the actor.

“For me, the bar for success is not very high. It’s: ‘Do most people like it?’ – just the simplicity of it. I like doing things that are critically approved – it’s much better than the alternative – but I’ve been around it long enough (to know) that the audience is really the most important critics.

In eight episodes, The penguin describes the brutal rise to power of underworld boss Oz Cobb. The show was originally intended to be a limited series, intended to simply bridge creator Matt Reeves’ 2022 film The Batman with its upcoming 2026 sequel The Batman Part II. But due to its enormous success, Reeves and showrunner Lauren LeFranc are in talks with HBO to continue the project. (They wouldn’t be the first to follow this recent arc: HBO’s The White Lotus and FXs Shogun both switched from limited runs to ongoing shows after scoring with audiences.)

But for Farrell, returning to Gotham City would still come at a cost. It’s not just about the laborious makeup, but also about the transformation into an obese gangster with a New York accent and a pitch-black state of mind. To make that change, the actor took a bit of a Method approach, staying in character the entire time on set. Just like Penguin fans on social media have said they forget Farrell when Cobb is on screen, some of his co-stars say they’ve barely met the real Farrell – he even wore a balaclava when he didn’t have make-up to hide his face.

“Colin is a very nice, empathetic person,” says Reeves THR. “And so to live in that darkness, and on top of that, to put on all that latex day in and day out, I know that as much as he loved the role, it was also a kind of hell at the same time. ”

THR spoke to Farrell via Zoom from his hotel room in Dublin (where he had just shown how different he is from the real-life Batman villain: running a marathon in four hours and pushing his friend with a rare skin condition in her wheelchair during the final of the two mile race). He talked about diving deep into Oz Cobb’s psyche, his favorite scene of the season and what fans can expect from it The Batman Part II. (Late viewers, take note: some spoilers from the finale below.)

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You’re not really known as a Method actor, but your castmates have spoken about the effort you put in on set to stay in character. What made it so important to maintain that level of illusion off-camera?

My hand was forced, in a sense. When you put your hands on your face and press your face, that’s what it felt like all day. So I was constantly aware of that, and the only way to accept that awareness to the point where I didn’t know anymore was to do a version of staying in character. Talking with my own accent felt like a greater effort and artifice than just (briefly covers the zoom camera with his hand and switches to Oz Cobb’s voice), “Hey, how are you? Good morning, good to see you.’ That felt more natural and I became very obsessed with the role. It was so dark.

This isn’t ‘poor me’ – people will hear this and go away (switches to surfer’s American accent), “You’re an actor, get over it.” I understand that. I’d probably provide that slack myself if I wasn’t an actor. But if you watch a movie for two hours, and it’s a horrific movie, and you’ve seen atrocities taking place that disturb you, you’ll come out of it and your mood will be affected. So as an actor, if you start something and it’s really well designed and you feel connected to it, it can affect your mood – of course you’re working on it 14 bloody hours a day! It doesn’t mean you go home and don’t know who you are. But it affected me in a way that I think (acting) should sometimes.

I think it’s funny that even when you did one line in Oz’s voice for a Zoom interview where we’re not recording video, you still covered the camera.

(Blushing) I just don’t want you to see how much overacting was going on.

There was a quote that went viral where you said you never wanted to put on makeup again.

A writer has taken that out of its energetic context. I was whining to anyone who would listen to me. It’s the way I speak sometimes: ‘I can’t wait to finish this,’ stuff like that. I get nervous just thinking about sitting in the chair for hours. But I’ve always loved the material, and the privilege I felt of inhabiting a character who lived for so long in comic book form was never lost on me, and beyond through various iterations on TV and in film.

Do you have a scene from the season that you are most proud of?

I have a little more objectivity watching this show than I normally do with anything I’m a part of, because of the obvious: I’m completely buried under three hours and 20 pounds of prosthetics. I don’t squirm as violently when I watch Oz as I do with other characters I’ve played. That said, I still find it hard to pick a favorite. But his relationship with his mother (Deirdre O’Connell) was something that drew me to the material more than some of the scenes that might have been more fun or exciting. The scene where Oz comes home and his mother is in the bath, her dementia has struck and he stands there helpless. She asks him to kill her before things get much worse, but she is the driving force in his life. She is his absolute hero and his inspiration and the source of a love and acceptance that he desperately wants to feel, but that he never really got from her. But as long as she lives, he always has the opportunity to make her proud. So the idea of ​​extinguishing the light of her life is something that is horrifying to him. I think it’s the most honest Oz is in the entire show.

What do you think of Oz’s decision to turn in Sofia (Cristin Milioti) in the finale?

Oz is someone whose left hand almost doesn’t know what his right hand is doing. He is so full of deceit. He is so full of the art of manipulation, and there are moments that veer into honesty. I think he had feelings for Sofia. I think he was protecting Sofia. In episode eight, I understand why sending Sofia back to Arkham is, theoretically in an interesting way, crueler than killing her (a point showrunner Lauren LeFranc makes in THR‘s post-final interview). I understand that argument. I don’t necessarily buy it because of the danger and threat she has presented to herself – which is incredibly impressive and powerful. I think Oz would put a bullet in her head. But that wasn’t what they wanted to do at the end of the show. So I went along.

I feel like I already know the answer to this, but why did Oz have Victor (Rhenzy Feliz)?

Why do you think?

I think the moment Victor said he considered Oz “family” he was doomed.

The gray areas are the most interesting areas to operate from, and I think sometimes certainty means death. You may have a clear idea of ​​what a scene is about, but the clearest idea you should have when inhabiting a scene is how it can be played. The key word there is “may,” and by adding that word you are still open to all the options that you may not have thought of, or that may be presented to you, or that may come up at the time. So, right after Oz’s love for his mother is used against him and nearly brings him down, the idea of ​​having someone so close that it would make him vulnerable is something he can’t really deal with.

What’s the latest news The Batman Part II?

I haven’t even read a script yet.

Is there anything you would like to experience with this character eventually?

Not really. I certainly don’t expect anything. I signed on for three Batman movies, but I didn’t know if I would be in the second movie. Matt Reeves is a brilliant writer and an extraordinary filmmaker, and what I’m most excited and nervous about in the second film isn’t what Oz does – or what difficult situation he finds himself in, or what moments of success he experiences. – but what his voice is. What is his personality like? It shaped and morphed into the limited series, and by the end of the eight episodes, it’s solidified into something else. There is a degree of almost delusional psychopathy present in the final scene. So how does that carry over into the second film? I was told I have five or six scenes. I have no hopes or expectations. I’m really an open book, and that’s how I get turned on about shit or not. I think sometimes when actors have careers that last a certain amount of time, they have to make too many decisions. That’s not to say I won’t push back, argue, or fight in Oz’s corner – I believe I know him better than anyone now.

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The penguin now streaming all episodes on Max. Read THR‘s post-final interview with showrunner Lauren LeFranc.

This story first appeared in a November standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.