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:

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.”

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 ,

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With The Penguin acting as the “bridge” to The Batman 2, one of its best characters may return in a major role in the sequel.

The successful series, which was developed by Lauren LeFranc and produced by Reeves, is set two weeks after the end of The Batman, in which Cobb plays the Falcone and Maroni families off against each other in a power grab following the death of mob leader Carmine Falcone.

In the show, there was a lot of violence towards women, and that’s not my thing,” John Turturro said about why he didn't reprise his "The Batman" role in "The Penguin."

The Batman star John Turturro has revealed why he didn't reprise his role as Gotham crime lord Carmine Falcone in the new HBO spin-off show The Penguin. "I did what I wanted to with the role," said Turturro in an interview with Variety.