Rhenzy Feliz Addresses That Major Character Death In The Penguin Finale [SPOILERS]

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The Penguin

WARNING: This article includes MAJOR SPOILERS from The Penguin finale.As the fallout of The Penguin finale becomes clearer, one of the main stars of the DC stars spin-off has revealed his thoughts on the most shocking scene. The gang war in Gotham City has come to an end, with Oz Cobb emerging victorious, setting him up for new chapters in Matt Reeves' The Batman universe. Unfortunately, not everyone in The Penguin cast made it out alive as one of the core characters met a grim fate.

In an exclusive interview with ScreenRant, Rhenzy Feliz has broken down Victor's tragic fate in The Penguin TV show. To start with, Feliz confirmed that Victor's tragic death was planned from the very beginning, when we asked how he felt reading the script and learning his fate:

I knew from the beginning, before I even showed up in New York to shoot, her and I had a meeting in LA, and she laid out the entire arc for Victor. We knew what we were setting out to accomplish, or to do from the very jump. I think it made it easier, for sure, but we were always working towards that big finale, that kind of big moment for the audience, and you grow all this time as an audience getting to know Victor and understanding him, and getting to know him in the lens with Oz and how they interact together and then sort of see that be the demise of it all is... It was definitely like a gut punch.

Feliz offered more thoughts on the scene, which saw Oz cut ties with his side-kick in the most shocking way. The scene works so well because it comes out of nowhere, after a long conversation between the pair in which Vic tells Penguin that he considers him his family:

I think the thing that I was most excited about was the scene just before the death, the kind of dialog that me and Oz share, because I'd known that the death was going to be long and kind of drawn out and painful, and that it wasn't going to be a quick, like shot to the head or something. I knew it was going to be pretty gruesome. So I was hoping that the scene right before would be a really strong contrast to not be this super dark, angry, long, drawn-out death scene. It would be something more vulnerable, and something more, almost like beautiful and light and soft. That's what I hoped that the scene would be. And then when I read it, it was even better than I could have imagined.

Interestingly, Feliz says that co-star Colin Farrell helped prepare him for the climactic scene:

Lauren and the team wrote something that was just so soft-spoken when I read it; it read in a soft tone. Me and Colin knew about [it], we kind of circled that day on the calendars, in a way, he and I would talk about it as it was coming up, like, 'Are you ready? Next week we have the big scene,' and then a few days out, 'Next couple days, you ready?' So we both knew that day was coming, and you got to nail the moments before in order for that moment to hit when it's happening. So reading it, what it was, [was] like, 'Oof, okay, yeah, we're doing it. We're doing this thing. It's actually happening. It's all coming to an end,' and you [are] trying to do your best.

Given that The Penguin was shot in New York, it's common for big shows like the HBO drama to be spotted by paparazzi and have major spoilers revealed early. However, with Victor's death in The Penguin finale, it didn't end up being the case, as even Feliz was surprised that set photos or videos didn't emerge from the night they shot that scene:

It was interesting. I think towards the beginning of the series, paparazzi were way more interested in what we were doing with Colin and the prosthetics and everything. By the end, they left us alone, so we were out in the open on Roosevelt Island, totally visible to anyone who wanted to walk. It was [a] park, so anybody could have just walked by. Also, I'm actually kind of surprised that there were no pictures or videos taken of that, because you're right. It's kind of like out in the open.

We almost lent ourselves to being able to get spotted, but it didn't end up happening. So that's good, but it definitely felt different on set that day, that's for sure. You felt there was a hush, like there wasn't as much fun going on. Honestly, the last couple episodes aren't very fun in general. So the show starts out a little bit lighter, and then as the show goes on, it gets darker and darker. We've kind of felt that on set as well. It gets into a darker, grittier place, and by the end there, that was one of the last days we shot. It wasn't the last day, but it was one of the last days, we could feel it on set, like, 'Oh man, none of this is very fun.'

Based on Feliz's comments about The Penguin finale, it is evident that showrunner Lauren LeFranc and the writers wanted to handle Victor's death with care. If The Penguin had been a network show, it is harder to imagine if there would have been as much preparation as they would have to go through the traditional pilot to series order stages.

The fact that Victor's big death in The Penguin finale wasn't spoiled in advance is still a surprise, with Feliz admitting he too was fascinated by the protection of the big secret. It is, of course, a great thing that it didn't get leaked ahead of The Penguin finale airing on HBO, as it was allowed to be a shock to the viewers. In the end, The Penguin is a villain story, meaning that this makes sense for Oz to do as a character, but it's guaranteed that Victor's death is going to be one of the biggest talking points in the next days and weeks.

Victor (Rhenzy Feliz) worried about Squid's threats in The Penguin Season 1 Episode 6

As sad as it is to see Victor not make it out alive of The Penguin TV show, the finale is one of the best episodes of live-action DC ever made, and the fateful, fatal scene is one of the best things about it. Feliz's performance is vulnerable and affectionate, as he suggests was the aim, and it's clear that the careful crafting of the episode played a major part in its success.

Whether or not this is the last that fans have seen of Feliz in The Batman universe remains to be seen, as Victor could always come back as a hallucination to Oz in future stories, as Oz's brothers did for his mother in the finale. But for now, The Penguin episode 8 marks the ending of Victor's journey in this version of the DC Universe.

Every episode of The Penguin is now streaming on Max.

Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022's film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family's empire.

Cast Colin Farrell , Cristin Milioti , Rhenzy Feliz , Michael Kelly , Shohreh Aghdashloo , Deirdre O'Connell , Clancy Brown , James Madio , Scott Cohen , Michael Zegen , Carmen Ejogo , Theo Rossi

Release Date September 19, 2024

Seasons 1

Showrunner Lauren LeFranc

Prequel The Batman (2022)

Avg Episode Length 60 Mins