It’s hard to argue anyone other than Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone was the real MVP of “The Penguin.”
Sparring opposite the likes of Colin Farrell, Deirdre O’Connell and Clancy Brown, it was Milioti who was the secret weapon within Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” spinoff on HBO. Her performance was spearheaded by a tour-de-force fourth episode that showed Sofia’s harrowing stay in Arkham and how it broke her in certain ways and awakened her in others. Despite the bleak road Sofia walked through the season, Milioti played it in a way that resonated with viewers.
“I’m biased obviously, but I think it’s because she’s completely fabulous,” Milioti told TheWrap. “She resonated with me when I signed on and I think that she feels like a really singular character. I think one of the many gifts of this show is that you really get to see how she becomes the villain that she becomes. That’s also part of why she resonates with people is that you understand her, whether or not you condone her actions, you understand them. She’s larger than life.”
She continued: “And then on top of that, her struggle and then her getting to a place where she does exactly what she wants and wreaks havoc — I’m like, what’s not to love.”
Sofia’s evolution from Falcone to Gigante climaxes in the finale in a rather unfortunate way — with her right back where she started in Arkham after coming within hours of beating Oz and getting out of Gotham for good. She doesn’t go out without leaving The Penguin reeling though.
The bulk of the finale saw Sofia force Oz to confront his mother Francis about his bloody past and the hand he had in the death of his brothers. She made sure Oz knew that his mom was afraid of him and thought he was a monster. In doing that, she does almost as much damage to him as he does to her.
“She gets a major one in before she goes,” Milioti said. “They’ve both sentenced each other to a fate worse than death.”
Below, Milioti looks back on Sofia’s villain origin story throughout the series, how she started becoming the very monster she hated toward the end, and what her outlook on the future is regarding the note she got from half-sister Selina Kyle.
What were the conversations like with showrunner Lauren LeFranc and the work you were doing on your own when it came to mapping out Sofia’s arc from Sofia Falcone to Sofia Gigante?
Lauren and I had endless conversations. I can’t say enough about Lauren’s brilliance and talent, and she also was so incredibly collaborative. We talked on the phone a lot, we talked on set a lot — I just had a lot of questions and a lot of thoughts and I always felt so welcomed. We both love this character so deeply and wanted to make sure that we were threading the needle correctly. On top of that, we had great directors — Craig Zobel and Helen Shaver. I also felt in such lockstep with them, specifically building those first four episodes when you get to where she ends up at the end of four and going forward.
For me personally, I was so lucky to have such open collaborations with our wardrobe and our hair and makeup department. I got to say, they really let us build her. I’ve never worked for a franchise before of this magnitude, but from what I hear, that isn’t always the case. This really felt like we could experiment and really build the look and the energy of this villain. Something that I really wanted to explore was sort of her freedom starting at the end of four.
What were those conversations like when it came to defining her hair and outfit looks pre-Episode 4 and post-Episode 4?
Those were very long discussions. But again, I felt so welcomed into those discussions because I had very specific thoughts about, like, the eyeliner underneath as a war paint. How do you make this person’s hair as feral as possible? This is how she would have expressed herself before Arkham in this sort of patriarchal mafia family would be — through hair, makeup and nails — so how do those become weapons after she has gone through what she’s gone through and as she becomes who she becomes. So that was also really fun to use those as weapons.
I spoke with Clancy Brown earlier in the season. We talked a bit about the scene in Episode 5 where Sal cooks for Sofia and kind of shows that you can live this mob life and still accept love from family. What did Sofia take from that, albeit brief, partnership?
Sofia hasn’t been given softness in years, and I think the softness she was given growing up — through the lens of what her family has done to her — she would not refer to it as softness anymore.
I really love that scene where they have dinner, where he makes her food. Even the idea that I don’t think anyone in her family has ever used that kitchen except for the staff. Like no one, you know? In what world would her father have done that with her? When her mother passed away, she was so young that she has no context or experience with that.
I think to have Sal offer her softness and wisdom, and also treat her like an equal. Obviously he’s teaching her certain things about strategy, but he’s coming to her as someone who’s also gone through enormous loss. It’s paternal in some sort of strange undercurrent way. I think the softness there is unexpected.
Sofia’s approach to torture to get information out of Oz in the premiere and Francis in the finale are totally opposite. She goes at Oz violently and with Francis it’s a more psychological approach to getting what she wants. Is that a further sign of her evolution from Falcone to Gigante?
Yeah. I also think some of it is because she underestimates Francis. Sofia does have a sort of specific villain code of ethics. She will spare a child but she’ll exterminate that child’s family. But in her brain, she’s like, “Well I would never hurt a child.” I don’t know what else to call them other than a twisted code of ethics.
As much as she knows that she has the checkmate move with Oz’s mother, she’s still like “this is someone who maybe doesn’t know what’s going on,” and so she’s gentle with her until she realizes what she has in front of her and that she’s kind of stepped into a boxing ring and is getting K.O.-ed by an absolute nightmare of a woman.
Also Francis calls her on so much, and I think that’s also very jarring. I think Francis actually really puts her on the back foot more than anyone, which is what’s so incredible about that scene.
You mention Sofia’s code of ethics. She gets a call in Episode 7 about her little cousin struggling after Sofia killed her entire family back in Episode 4. Is Sofia worried she’s become to her cousin what her father was to her?
That’s actually one of my favorite scenes in the whole show. I love it for so many reasons and it again speaks to Lauren’s brilliance. One of the things that we really wanted to explore in that scene is that it’s even set up like the cell from [Arkham]. The bed is in the same place, the window is the same. I think she’s seeing the ways in which she’s repeating history. That’s what leads to her breakdown when she comes back, and even the way she’s seen how Francis is being tortured. She’s become the person that she hates the most, and that’s incredible.
While in the name of fighting and dismantling her father’s legacy, she is pulling the same exact stuff and pulling it off just as well. How devastating for her.
In all that dismantling, Sofia almost makes it out of Gotham but has to go and see a captured Oz one last time before leaving, which is when things get flipped. Did you put any thought into what Sofia’s life would have been like had she managed to get out of the city and out from under the Falcone umbrella of influence for the first time?
I have my own thoughts about it, but I’m like squirrelly about sharing them because I don’t want to influence. I’m curious for people to also have their own thoughts. But I definitely had an idea of what she’d do.
Oz and Sofia’s drive to the water after he captures her at the airport is one of my favorite scenes of the finale. He’s on his soapbox about being a Man of the People, but Sofia calls him on it and says that’s how he needs people to see him. How is she seeing him in that moment after everything?
I think that’s like the thesis of their whole relationship and them as adversaries. From Day 1, she’s been like, “I see you,” and he can’t be seen, and that’s like one of her powers over him. In that scene in the car, I just keep coming back to Lauren, because the way her brain works and the way she writes is so, so gorgeous. To have that call back to how they used to be but knowing what they’re going into is so brutal, but there is weirdly a softness to it in the face of what’s about to happen.
I’m so fascinated by their relationship and also by our chemistry as characters. I don’t really know, like, we’re nemeses but there’s also care and history there. It’s just wild. I love it so much. I love that car scene because they’re not talking to each other like people who have been butting heads for months. They’re talking to people that, you know, raised each other and had been around each other with history.
How is she viewing her future at the end of the season after being put back in Arkham but before the letter comes?
I think she’s broken beyond repair before that moment. I think it’s like another level of breaking her.
She ends up right back where she started, but she’s a completely different person from her time out that I grappled with whether or not this was a complete loss. It’s obviously not ideal but she’s such a different person.
She is such a different person, and I agree with you on that. But also the story is actually happened so quickly. She’s only been out for like two months — I forget what the exact number is, but it was something staggeringly short. She’s had freedom for two months and to be back there … I agree with you, she’s a completely different creature. In that moment, gears are turning, but she’s devastated and broken.
What does getting the letter from Selina mean to her?
I think there’s a lot of very special things that go on in that moment. I think hope is one of them, obviously. She’s also never had family outside of Alberto, who showed up in the ways that he could, but still was working for her father and still was part of the family and still couldn’t get her out. That was complicated, and then she loses him.
I think the idea that there’s a type of family out there, and an idea that there’s hope. She obviously doesn’t know the Selina story at all but knowing how similar their stories are — I think it’s just like a glimmer of hope at the end of a very, very long, dark time.
It doesn’t feel like Sofia’s story is done by any means despite the show being a limited series. Do you have a preference for how you’d like to see her appear again? Another series to explore her, maybe pop up in “The Batman Part II”? All of the above?
All of the above! I feel like a kid in a candy store with it. It has been one of the greatest joys of my life to play her, so the answer is like a giant, resounding, hugely loud yes.
