While Batman fans may not yet know when a live-action Dark Knight will grace our screens again, Max’s The Penguin series will take viewers back to Gotham City at a later point in the 2024 TV schedule, with Colin Farrell starring as the waddling titular antagonist. Before all that, though, the Irish actor will be on the right side of the law for the upcoming crime drama Sugar, which will be available to stream with an Apple TV+ subscription. As seen above, his latest role actually makes him look quite a bit like Bruce Wayne by way of Dashiell Hammett or Donald Westlake.
Indeed, Sugar is a throwback to the pulpy noirs of yesteryear, but with the sunlit streets of Los Angeles as the setting as opposed to the dark, rain-soaked streets of an east coast metro. Farrell stars as John Sugar, a private detective who looks like he stepped right out of a shadowy, smoke-filled office with electric street lights pulsing through the window blinds. But rather than solely working through informational back channels without getting his hands dirty, Sugar lives up to his name by delivering the sweet science on criminals’ faces, all while taking some of it to his own face.
Admittedly, Bruce Wayne doesn’t look like this all that often, but mostly because his cowl blocks a lot of other people’s blood from touching his face. Sugar isn’t so lucky.
In the series, Sugar is tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearance of a famed Hollywood heir, Olivia Siegel. She’s the granddaughter of an iconic film producer, Jonathan Siegel, and Sugar’s hunt puts him up close and personal with the many skeletons within the Siegel family’s closet, and some are much fresher than others. But there’s also seemingly something else at play here, since Sugar somehow falls within the science fiction spectrum, though it’s not clear how just yet.
The new series was created by Mark Protosevich (Oldboy, I Am Legend), with X-Men producer Simon Kinberg as one of the EPs. Both of their names being involved speaks to the genre elements, too. And just check out this stacked cast:
- Colin Farrell
- Kirby Howell Baptiste
- Amy Ryan
- James Cromwell
- Anna Gunn
- Dennis Boutsikaris
- Nate Corddry
- Sydney Chandler
- Alex Hernandez
To think Colin Farrell went from that group to The Penguin’s cast. No lack of famous and talented people in the Oscar-nominated actor’s career. For an added Bat-bonus connection, Mark Protosevich wrote the screenplay for Batman Unchained, the fifth caped crusader movie, which Joel Schumacher was originally going to follow Batman & Robin with, had that sequel been an undeniable success. (Not to mention the fact that Farrell himself was nearly tapped as Batman opposite Jude Law’s Superman.)
Sugar will make its streaming debut on Apple TV+ with its first two episodes going live on Friday, April 5, with new installments releasing weekly afterward.
