Gotham’s underworld took center stage at HBO Max’s recent FYC panel for The Penguin, where the cast and creatives behind the Emmy-nominated limited series revealed shocking behind-the-scenes stories, emotional character arcs, and prosthetic wizardry that even left Colin Farrell stunned.
With 24 Emmy nominations, including Best Limited Series and acting nods for Farrell, Cristin Milioti, and Deirdre O’Connell, the panel delivered plenty of buzzworthy moments — including the reveal that Sophia’s survival almost didn’t happen.
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Colin Farrell on becoming Oz: “What the f–k is that?!”
One of the biggest crowd-pleasers came when Farrell recounted the moment he first saw what prosthetic designer Mike Marino envisioned for Oz Cobb. “Matt Reeves opened up his laptop … and it was Oz, the version in the show and the film,” Farrell said. “And I went, ‘What the f–k is that?!’ And he said, ‘That’s going to be you.’ I said, ‘Really?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, Marino said he can do it.’”
Farrell admitted he was hesitant at first but ultimately embraced the transformation: “It was this justifiably glorified magic trick. I’ve always loved practical things in cinema. … I struggle with CGI. I know there’s a time and place, but I’ve struggled with the saturation of CGI in certain films. This makeup gave me total freedom — emotional and psychological.”
Marino said perfecting Farrell’s Penguin wasn’t easy — especially on the TV series, where viewers got closer looks than ever before. “We had to adapt everything for the show — we did it almost 90 times,” the Emmy-nominated prosthetic designer revealed. “Seeing Oz in daylight was brutal; that’s where you see the seams. Colin even got rashes from the extreme glues, so we scheduled shooting around letting his skin rest. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my career.”
Keeping Sophia alive
One of the most surprising revelations came from series creator Lauren LeFranc, who admitted that Sophia’s survival was far from guaranteed. “I never wanted to kill Sophia,” she confirmed. “My plan always was to have her go back to Arkham because I think it’s a fate worse than death. Writers kept saying, ‘She should die,’ and I said, ‘She’s not going to die.’”
For Milioti, who plays Sophia, inhabiting such a layered and unpredictable character was a dream role: “I’ve been a fan of this world my whole life,” Milioti said. “I love that no one has superpowers, that it’s just their own rage and pain. Gotham is sort of New York-adjacent, grounded in reality but heightened and sometimes campy. I’ve always loved it.”
Francis’ chilling moment
O’Connell shared an emotional story about filming one of the show’s most haunting scenes, where Francis faces an icy shift in her relationship with Oz. “He came over to the bed and asked me how I was doing … and I felt Oz withdraw his love from Francis,” O’Connell said. “He just turned it off, and it took my breath away. A chill went over me. It was really scary.”
Farrell agreed, recalling how even the crew felt the weight of the moment: “Joey from props looked at the monitor and went, ‘This is so f–ked up. We’re all going to hell.’ Everyone was just gutted by it.”
Life after The Penguin: Pixar, Black Mirror, and letting go
Filming the series was an intense experience for the cast, and wrapping production left a lasting impact on each of them. Farrell admitted he needed a little cartoon therapy and time to decompress. “At the end of it, I was relieved to be finished, but I was also down,” he said. “You feel kind of empty. There’s just an immediate vacuum. … I watched Pixar movies to chill out.”
For Milioti, there was no break at all: “I went immediately into Black Mirror 10 days later, and it kind of knocked me sideways,” she said. “Months later I realized I was just … exhausted.”
The Penguin earned 24 Emmy nominations this year, including Best Limited Series. The 2025 Emmys will air Sept. 14 on CBS and stream live on Paramount+.
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