Colin Farrell opens up about escaping 'The Penguin's' dark side

Colin Farrell says playing “Sugar” was the perfect escape after becoming ‘The Penguin’.

Spending years inside one of TV’s darkest villains can take its toll—and Farrell admits that stepping back into Sugar was exactly the reset he needed.

After transforming into Oz Cobb for The Batman and HBO’s The Penguin through hours of heavy prosthetic makeup, Farrell says returning as kind-hearted private investigator John Sugar felt like hitting an emotional refresh button.

“I love playing the Penguin. This is not a bitch, but it’s so dark. The character has such a poison within him,” Farrell told The Hollywood Reporter. “Sugar, on the other hand, is so gentle, optimistic and so fundamentally decent. It’s a lovely moral palate cleanser.”

Season 2 of Sugar picks up after the jaw-dropping reveal that John Sugar is an alien, but don’t expect the series to drift into full-blown sci-fi territory. Instead, the Apple TV+ drama doubles down on grounded storytelling, exploring real-life issues in Los Angeles, including homelessness and the fentanyl crisis.

Farrell, who also serves as a producer, said authenticity mattered more than making a statement.

“I’d be terrified that, in portraying any aspect of the homeless community in this city, you’d be patronizing them, infantilizing them, exoticizing them or using it just for the show to say, ‘Oh look, we’re so caring,’” he explained. “I hope we didn’t fall short.”

Farrell isn’t done with Gotham’s infamous crime boss either. He’s expected to suit up—well, prosthetics up—once again as Oz Cobb in The Batman: Part II. Until then, Sugar offers fans a chance to see a very different side of the Oscar-nominated actor.