The Batman's Penguin spin-off sets female lead: Cristin Milioti

Cristin Milioti
(Image credit: HBO)

Cristin Milioti has been tapped to star in The Penguin, HBO Max's upcoming The Batman spin-off.

Milioti is set to play Sofia Falcone, daughter of crime boss Carmine Falcone (played by John Turturro in the film).  The show is said to explore Penguin's journey to holding power in Gotham's underworld. Sofia will go head to head with Colin Farrell's Penguin for control of Gotham City. The character was previously played by Crystal Reed in Fox's Gotham, which explored the origin stories behind some of Batman's most notorious villains.

Craig Zobel, who directed the limited series The Mare of Easttown, is set to Helm the Farrell-led villain series. Zobel also directed the 2020 controversial horror thriller The Hunt and episodes of HBO's Westworld and CBS All Access's One Dollar.

Lauren LeFranc (Impulse, Agents of SHIELD) is set to pen the script. Farrell will reprise his role as the titular villain and executive-produce along with director Matt Reeves and producer Dylan Clark.

Milioti starred opposite Andy Samberg in the rom-com Palm Springs, the short-lived series Made for Love, and is perhaps best known for playing Tracy McConnell in How I Met Your Mother. She currently leads Peacock's The Resort.

The Penguin does not yet have a release date, though it was reported to have entered production in September. For more, check out our round-up of the most exciting upcoming films, or, our list of movie release dates. For more superheroes, check out our complete guide to watching DC movies in order to get up to date on the DCEU.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.