June 20, 2024
Provided image/Max
Cristin Milioti, left, stars in the upcoming Max series 'The Penguin' with Colin Farrell, right. A new teaser came out Thursday.
The newest teaser for this fall's "Penguin" series has arrived, and it stars a South Jersey actress as a mob princess.
Cherry Hill-born Cristin Milioti, who appeared as the elusive mother in "How I Met Your Mother" and opposite Andy Samberg in the Hulu comedy "Palm Springs," co-stars in the Max limited series. "The Penguin" is a DC Comics spinoff of 2022's "The Batman" following crime kingpin Oz Cobb (better known as the Penguin) and his underworld associates. Milioti plays Sofia Falcone, the daughter of recently whacked Mafia boss Carmine Falcone, and from the looks of the teaser, she's ready to assume her dad's old throne.
"I refuse to let these old men push me aside again," she says in the promo. "So I'm going to take from them now. And I'm going to force them to their knees."
Milioti did not appear in "The Batman," but Colin Farrell is back in the lead role as the Penguin. The series pits him and Sofia against one another in the aftermath of Carmine's death, which has created a power vacuum among Gotham's mobsters.
"You know Oz, people underestimate you, but not me," Milioti, as Sofia Falcone, whispers into her nemesis's ear in another scene. "I've always known you were capable of more."
"The Penguin" isn't Milioti's first work for Max. She recently starred in the streamer's "Made for Love," a sci-fi black comedy based on the novel of the same name by Alissa Nutting. It was canceled in 2022 after two seasons, and removed from the platform later that year.
Milioti graduated from Cherry Hill East High School, where she starred as the Artful Dodger in "Oliver!" and Eponine in "Les Misérables," according to the Star-Ledger. She also dressed up as Frank Reynolds from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" for W magazine, in a nod to her roots.
"That cast is so brilliant," she said of the long-running comedy. "I'm also from there, so I think, like, Oh, I know these people, we all grew up together. I thought that about 'Mare of Easttown', too, because that’s the accent where I grew up. It's a South Jersey, Philly, Pennsylvania thing. Like, all my teachers sounded like 'Mare of Easttown' and a lot of my relatives."
With her next project, she'll get a chance to work with a "Mare of Easttown" alum. Craig Zobel, who directed every episode of the series, also helms the first three episodes of "The Penguin." The show premieres in September.
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