The Penguin: Sofia’s Story Must Somehow, Somewhere Continue — Despite Her Fate in Finale

Warning: The following contains full spoilers for The Penguin finale, AKA episode 8. 

HBO’s The Penguin limited series has come to an end, and while we know Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb will return in The Batman Part II, the series has given us far too compelling a character in Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone — or Sofia Gigante as she’s now known — to not see her story continue as well.

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The dynamic between Oz and Sofia was crucial to the series, beginning with her kidnapping and torturing him (because she suspected he killed her brother, Alberto), and then shifting into their unlikely yet entertaining short-lived partnership when he convinced her the Maroni family was behind it. Of course, Oz was lying, and he had killed Alberto, and once that cat was out of the bag, he and Sofia were truly enemies for the remainder of the series — but she remained a captivating character whether interacting with him or not.

Milioti was utterly fantastic throughout The Penguin, giving the character an off-kilter edge that initially implied insanity, given she’d been sent to Arkham for murdering multiple women as a serial killer called The Hangman. But the reveal that Sofia had been framed by her own father allowed Milioti both a hell of a spotlight episode and also the ability to reframe our perception of how she carried herself the entire time as Sofia. She wasn’t insane, but she had gone through hell during her time locked away, and now used her reputation as an intimidation factor — a reputation she now could live up to, having truly become a killer along the way.

The finale (read our post mortem) found Oz outsmarting Sofia, sending her back to Arkham while he looked like a man of the people. But the fact that she survived the series is exciting for what it could mean for the future, because Sofia has the potential to be a true anti-hero in a way that Oz – who had embraced how truly monstrous he was by the end of the show – cannot. To be clear, she’s done awful things herself, including setting off an explosion to get Oz that claimed the lives of others as collateral damage, but her journey of trying to figure out who she is and what her path is showed she struggled in a way Oz did not. After all, she ultimately couldn’t bring herself to kill Gia, her young niece who could potentially name her as the one behind the deaths of nearly her entire family — something Oz would very much go through with.

When TVLine spoke with The Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc, she told us that Sofia’s constant inner struggle “is what makes her so complicated, and really, in many ways, challenging to write, and I’m sure for Cristin to perform in moments, because she’s trying to figure out who she is.” But LeFranc and Milioti were more than up to the challenge, making Sofia into a character that audiences were deeply invested in.

When we last see Sofia, she receives a letter in her cell at Arkham from the half-sister she never knew existed, Selina Kyle (played in Matt Reeves’ Batman film by Zoe Kravitz). LeFranc noted this gives a small sense of hope to Sofia, given the one family member who supported her, Alberto, is gone and she killed the others, who had all betrayed her. Said LeFranc, “I wanted her to know at the end that there is someone out there like Selina who is technically family to her… to give Sofia some sense that she might not be as alone as she thinks.”

There are some unsubstantiated rumors that Sofia could be in The Batman Part II, but even if that were true, it’s difficult to see how it could be for more than a scene or two — perhaps Kravitz’s Selina stops by Arkham? But there is so much more to explore about Sofia as a character, which is a big reason to want The Penguin to get a second season. Or, hell, Sofia (maybe alongside her sister?) could get her own series, given that Matt Reeves has said there are more facets of Gotham City he wants to explore.

Hopefully, Reeves and others making the call agree that Sofia is more than worthy of a continued spotlight.

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