SPOILER ALERT: This story includes major plot details from the finale of HBO’s “The Penguin,” now streaming on Max.
It was a dark night on set.
At a Q&A following a screening of “The Penguin” finale at the Saban Media Center on Nov. 10, Colin Farrell described the somber tone felt by the collective cast and crew during the evening of their final shoot for the Max limited series.
This was the night Farrell filmed the show’s shocking finale, which sees his character Oswald Cobb murder beloved mentee Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz).
Feliz described the moment before his death as perhaps the most vulnerable interaction between Oz and Victor in the entire series. He suggested the internal layers of masculinity among the two men prevents them from explicitly saying the words “I love you,” and that Victor communicated this message to Oz by likening the latter to the closest thing the young teenager has to family.
“It was really taking the last vestige of innocence,” Farrell said of the scene. “Somebody who had given so much of his life, who had suffered so much loss and had offered up so much loyalty, so much love…it was seeing that light get snuffed out by the person that he had offered all that to.”
The Irish actor detailed how the team behind “The Penguin” had spent a year together at that point, leading to a particularly close bond between the cast and crew. He shared both his hatred and respect for this narrative ending to Victor’s arc.
“There was a dark energy that night,” Farrell said. “If you’re going to ask the audience to fall in love with the character, which I feel the audience has fallen in love with Rhenzy’s Vic, there’s a world that the crew are gonna fall in love with that character as well.”
Deirdre O’Connell, who plays Oz’s mother Francis Cobb, said the final page of the last episode in the series required her to shed a singular tear as she lays in a vegetative state, unable to experience the penthouse promise her gangster son has finally fulfilled to her.
O’Connell explained portraying the heartbreaking scene had been on her mind nearly every day during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. She said she did not have a specific plan for executing her performance in Francis’ closing moment, but that Farrell did something uncanny which forced her to react.
“I don’t even know if he knew he was doing it and I don’t know how a human can do it, but he withdrew his love,” O’Connell said. “It was absolutely clear in the room that Oz withdrew his love and I felt it, and my blood ran cold. He gave me the tear.”
Showrunner Lauren LeFranc explained how she wanted to craft a version of Oz who is flawed yet elicits empathy from viewers. She expressed her desire to present this depiction of Oswald Cobb as an examination of the man within the antagonist that fans of the Batman universe may be familiar with from past onscreen or comic portrayals.
Farrell highlighted the character’s complexity and multifaceted psychology as pivotal aspects behind his decision to commit to the role. He added that it was LeFranc’s understanding of the relationship between Oz and Francis — specifically the emotional subtext of the relationships between sons and their mothers — that ultimately captivated him.
“It was so human, and it was so relatable,” Farrell said. “It was painful but there was also beauty there.”
