The Penguin team explain why they didn't feel the need to have Batman cameo in the show: "You're going down a different alley"

The world of The Batman is expanding with the upcoming Penguin spin-off show, which sees Colin Farrell reprise his role as Oz Cobb, AKA the Penguin himself.     

One major player appears to be missing in action, though. Gotham may be forever in his avenging shadow but the Dark Knight, it seems, is sitting this one out (rumors that Robert Pattinson may suit-up for a cameo may be a reliable underworld whisper – or simply fervent fan-wishing).

What does that do to your storytelling, taking Batman out of Batman's world? "I understand why people's desire would be to have Batman, or to think that unless Batman's in a show or a film then it doesn't have the same punch," Penguin writer/showrunner Lauren LeFranc tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Agatha All Along on the cover and hits newsstands on September 4.

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"To me I think it packs a different punch. Matt's films are through the lens of the Batman, so you're high up, looking down on the city. It's a different perspective. With Oz, you're in the city streets, you're in the grit and the muck and the grime. He's looking up, wanting to claw his way to the top.

"So it's a different experience," she continues. "I think Gotham is an interesting enough city that it deserves to have more doors unlocked within it, and for us to walk through those and see what we think."  

"I don't feel like it's missing something fundamental," says The Batman director Matt Reeves, clearly feeling no pressure to flash the Bat-signal. "I feel like it's an extension of what is fundamentally there. We know this is the world of Batman.

"You're going down a different alley. So the spectre of Batman is there," he says. "The spectre of the Riddler is there. The spectre of everything that happens in the last movie is there. It informs it. And it's exactly where we begin."  

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The Penguin releases on September 20 on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK and HBO in the US. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Agatha All Along on the cover and will be available from Wednesday, September 4. 

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Check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and TV shows for everything else  in store.