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Photo: Cristin Milioti as Sofia Gigante.
The mood in Gotham City is bleak, folks. Crime runs rampant, a new drug just hit the streets, and mob violence dominates the headlines. But this is all good news for HBO, as The Penguin provides a critical and ratings hit for the network and its streaming platform, Max. With the first season approaching its final episode, why not get nuts and talk about what kind of impact the series will have come next year’s Emmys? Will HBO be able to do what Disney already has and cram branded comic-book content into the awards race?
Simply by virtue of being an HBO drama with good viewership numbers, The Penguin is at least going to be in the awards conversation. Not everything HBO produces gets embraced by the Emmys — look no further than Industry for proof of that — but The Penguin is, pardon the pun, a different animal entirely. This is a show with a major Hollywood star in Colin Farrell and, more importantly, a major entertainment brand in DC comics, the success of which is quite important to David Zaslav and Warner Bros. Discovery with James Gunn’s revamped DC universe on the way.
The question isn’t whether HBO will campaign The Penguin for Emmys but whether Emmy voters will respond to it. This is new territory for HBO; for as much as The Penguin tries to transform itself from a comic-book-villain story into an organized-crime drama, it’s still called The Penguin and features Farrell under a metric ton of makeup and prosthetics. The effect isn’t exactly as cartoonish as Danny DeVito’s bird in Batman Returns, but it’s not stark realism, either.
The Sopranos this ain’t, but it’s not 1999 anymore. Genre TV has made a home in the mainstream, and the Emmys have been reflecting that for almost a decade. Game of Thrones pushed the genre snobbery toward fantasy. Shows like Westworld repped for sci-fi. Elevated superhero fare like Watchmen received an enthusiastic welcome to the tune of 26 nominations and 11 wins including Outstanding Limited Series. Even a show like The Boys, which pushes the envelope with its violence and nihilism, has received eight Emmy nods over its run, including a 2021 Best Drama Series nomination.
Starting in 2020, franchise brand extensions from the Star Wars and Marvel universes set up shop in the major categories. The Mandalorian, Andor, and Obi-Wan Kenobi all got Outstanding Series nominations (the first two in Drama, the last in Limited Series). Meanwhile, Marvel’s WandaVision got 23 total nominations in 2021, including acting nods for stars Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, and Kathryn Hahn. Up until now, the DC universe’s TV presence has been scattered all across the network and streaming landscape, from the Greg Berlanti–produced CW shows in the Arrowverse to Fox’s Gotham to Max’s animated Harley Quinn series — but almost entirely excluded from the TV-awards conversation. The Penguin is the first attempt to do DC comics like prestige TV. We’ll see if Emmy voters bite.
It’s hard not to zero in on Cristin Milioti as antagonist and antiheroine Sofia Gigante (née Falcone) as a hook for voter focus. The character is technically in opposition to Farrell’s Oz Cobb, but thanks in large part to Milioti’s ferocious performance, I can’t imagine anyone watching this show not rooting for Sofia to come out on top. Milioti, who got a Tony nomination in 2012 for her performance in the musical Once, has been largely under-recognized for her screen accomplishments. On TV, she’s best known for Black Mirror, Fargo, The Resort, and most famously the “Mother” on How I Met Your Mother, but outside of the Critics Choice or the MTV Movie and TV Awards, awards groups have ignored her. This year, she’s making that awfully difficult.
Farrell is liable to get his flowers too, if only for the degree of difficulty in getting Oz’s wounded-bully psyche across despite all that makeup. Having two such strong candidates for acting honors could boost The Penguin, but what might end up making the biggest difference is what categories the show will compete in. According to HBO’s own press materials, The Penguin is a limited series, meant to end with Sunday’s finale. But recently, The Batman director Matt Reeves — who has an executive-producer credit on The Penguin, though Lauren LeFranc is the driving creative force and showrunner — suggested there would be further seasons within this particular superhero universe. Whether that means more Penguin specifically will likely determine whether the show competes as a Drama Series or a Limited Series.
That categorization could make a big difference when it comes to Penguin’s awards chances, especially if HBO’s heavy-hitter dramas are in play for this Emmy season. The Last of Us and The White Lotus, both of which are scheduled to return before the Emmys cutoff next year, were major Emmy players after their most recent seasons, and there’s every reason to think they will be when they return. Most recently, Disney’s Agatha All Along announced it would compete in the Comedy Series category, suggesting it will return for a second season. That’s one less comic-book series The Penguin will have to deal with as a Limited Series.
Ultimately, The Penguin would stand out more impressively as a Limited Series and be far more likely to score nods for Milioti, Farrell, and featured stars like Dierdre O’Connell, who delivers an unhinged, sad, and sometimes dangerous turn as Oz’s mother. If The Penguin competes in Drama, it’ll have to fight uphill for attention alongside two of HBO’s most prestigious shows. Sure, HBO has gotten three shows into the Outstanding Drama category before — most recently in 2023, with The Last of Us, The White Lotus, and House of the Dragon (another 2025 Emmy contender with a lot of question marks around it) — but for a show already trying to prove that DC comics can offer prestige drama, it’d be better off without the in-house competition.
If you liked The Penguin, you’ll love seeing Cristin Milioti at Vulture Festival, November 16-17 in Los Angeles. Get tickets here before they sell out!