While speaking with Variety about his new movie The Room Next Door (which will open wide in the United States early on in the 2025 movies schedule ), Turturro briefly mentioned that he didn’t feel like returning for The Penguin because he didn’t care for the subject matter involved. In his words:

The Batman was a fantastically dark and fresh take on the story of The Dark Knight, building a new Gotham with deep, rich characters, who we couldn’t wait to see explored further. While we will have two wait nearly two more years to see the main story continue in Part II ,

John Turturro had a good reason not to reprise his “Batman” role in HBO’s spinoff series “The Penguin.” The Emmy Award-winning actor says he turned down the chance to return to the role of gangster Carmine Falcone due to “violence against women.”