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 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.

Additionally, the episode “Cent'Anni” included flashbacks featuring Carmine Falcone, only rather than being reprised by John Turturro, Mark Strong played the younger version of the character. Although Turturro’s absence from this DC TV show airing running on the 2024 TV schedule was initially attributed to scheduling conflicts,