“This — this is one of those moments where you gotta ask yourself, what kind of life do I want? The world ain’t built for guys like us; that’s why we gotta take whatever we decide is ours.”

Welcome to the world view of Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell), also known by his unbeatable gangster nickname The Penguin. Farrell’s portrayal of the rotund demigod of the Gotham underworld was one of the many wonderful surprises nested in writer/director Matt Reeves’s excellent The Batman, and now we’ve got our first look at the spinoff series The Penguin. HBO Max (soon-to-be just Max) has released an “in-production teaser,” giving us a glimpse of the series while it’s in the midst of being shot. The Penguin will follow Gotham’s rising crime king after the events depicted in The Batman, in which the Penguin managed to keep his head, and some of his power, while Gotham’s undisputed mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) got capped by the Riddler (Paul Dano).

The teaser reveals the dangerous world the Penguin is now trying to take control of, with plenty of people questioning his loyalty after Falcone’s demise. There’s a power vacuum in the Gotham underworld now, and it’ll be the savviest, most lethal man or woman who survives the coming struggle and ends up on top. Oswald Cobblepot is probably a decent bet in this regard.

The teaser also makes it clear that the grimy, shadowy Gotham that Reeves created for The Batman will be explored even deeper, and Farrell remains as unrecognizable as he was in the film, and just as magnetic. “The new kingpin of Gotham,” the Penguin muses at the close of the teaser. That’s certainly his aim.

Farrell is joined by Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, and a slew of great performers like Carmen Ejogo, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Michael Kelly. It’s a bite-sized but enticing morsel of a teaser and has us excited about seeing Farrell get far more runway to waddle down as the Penguin.

Check out the first look at The Penguin below. The series comes to HBO Max in 2024: