Matt Reeves’ Max series “The Penguin” was the latest series to be impacted by the writer’s strike.
According to Deadline, filming shut down for the day on Tuesday after a location shoot in Westchester, New York was disrupted by WGA-organized picketers.
Teamsters and local guilds chose not to cross the picket line. The eight-episode drama, which sees Colin Farrell reprise his villain character from last year’s “The Batman” film, marks the latest big-budget series currently filming to be impacted by the ongoing industrial action.
Scripts for the series have reportedly been finished for weeks, and the the project began filming in early March. The series begins days to weeks after the film’s end with the death of Carmine Falcone (Jon Turturro) and parts of Gotham City still somewhat flooded.
A fight for control of Gotham’s underworld is underway between The Penguin, Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), and arrested mob boss Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown). Shohreh Aghdashloo and Michael Kelly co-star in the series.
The lavishly budgeted Max series starkly contrasts with the other Batman-adjacent series currently on the air – The CW’s “Gotham Knights”.
The fate of that series remains unknown for now, but a report at THR going into its renewal chances says one thing working in its favor is that the series is the cheapest DC series The CW has ever aired.
While it’s hard to find concrete figures, the various “Arrowverse” shows have previously been reported to hover in the $3 million per episode range, with “Legends of Tomorrow” running slightly higher.
“Superman & Lois” is likely The CW’s most expensive at around $5 million per episode, but it’s enjoying strong viewership with double the audience of “Gotham Knights” along with far better reviews.
