Last week, it was announced that Minnie Driver would be taking on the role of a gender-swapped version of The Penguin in Bruce Timm’s Batman: Caped Crusader
This was a very interesting and unexpected bit of casting, and while there’s been some backlash from fans, I like Driver, and I’m curious to see what she does with this character as she brings it to life.
During an interview with Variety, Driver was asked to address fears of potential backlash from hyper-critical fans, and she responded:
“Here’s the thing: If it hadn’t been so beautifully imagined or reimagined, if it had somehow just been shoehorned in to tick some box of ‘Oh, we have to now have a fluidity around characters,’ That’s not it.
“The essence of the Penguin is the essence of the Penguin. She’s properly evil. She really does some terrible things, and I hope that she will be embraced as the villain that she always has been.”
She concluded by saying: “The essence of this show is quintessentially Batman. Make no mistake, and the fact that the Penguin is a really terrifying woman speaks volumes about the imagination of Bruce [Timm] and the whole team.”
We’ll just have to wait and see how this character is brought to life.
The description for the series reads: “Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear.
“Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human—the BATMAN. His one-man crusade for justice attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications.”
This series is going to be a whole new take on the Batman mythology, and the series is set in the very early crime-fighting career of Batman. Timm said: “Batman is so early in his career that in the first episode, he’s still an urban myth.”
He went on to say: “It’s not Year One,” referring to the Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli Batman origin comic. “It’s more like ‘Week Two’.”
Not only will Bruce Wayne be trying to figure out how to be Batman, this is going to be a different kind of Batman to the versions we’ve previously seen.
Timm explained: “I wanted to make him kind of weird, and spooky. If you’re stuck in a room with Batman, whether you’re Commissioner Gordon or Barbara Gordon or Renee Montoya, you don’t feel comfortable. You’re kind of like, ‘What is this guy? What’s this all about?’”
The rest of the cast includes Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass) as Batman, Christina Ricci as Selina Kyle / Catwoman, Jamie Chung is Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn, and former Batman voice actor Diedrich Bader is set to play Harvey Dent / Two-Face.
Other cast members include Eric Morgan Stuart, Michelle C. Bonilla, Krystal Joy Brown, John DiMaggio, McKenna Grace, Jason Watkins, Paul Scheer, Reid Scott, Gary Anthony Williams, Dan Donohue, David Krumholtz, Haley Joel Osment, and Toby Stephens.
This animated series has been in development for some time with Timm, J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, and comic writer Ed Brubaker leading the charge.
Batman: Caped Crusader premieres this August 1 on Prime Video.
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