The Penguin cast a different actor in the role of mob boss Carmine Falcone, and now we know why. John Turturro originally played one of Gotham’s biggest antagonists in 2022’s The Batman, but he was replaced in HBO spinoff series The Penguin by Mark Strong.

Showrunner Lauren LeFranc responds after the actor says he turned down The Penguin in part because of the show's amount of "violence towards women."

John Turturro shared that "violence towards women" was one of the reasons he passed on returning as Carmine Falcone for HBO's The Penguin.

The Batman's John Turturro explains why he didn't return as Carmine Falcone, but it doesn't match the reason given by the producers of The Penguin.

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 ,

We’re more than halfway into The Penguin ’s run on HBO, and along with Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobb being placed front and center, we’ve also seen some other fellow The Batman alums briefly reprise their roles.

HBO’s The Penguin has a ton of connections to Matt Reeves’ The Batman, but one is proving more interesting than others. In Reeves’ film, John Turturro played crime boss Carmine Falcone, a character who returns in flashbacks for The Penguin.