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.”

Speaking to Variety, The Big Lebowski actor said the reason for not returning to the role went beyond scheduling. “I did what I wanted with the role,” he said. “In the show, there was a lot of violence towards women, and that’s not my thing.”

John Turturro says he didn’t reprise his role as Carmine Falcone in The Penguin because the series contains too much “violence towards women.” Turturro played the villainous Carmine Falcone in 2022’s The Batman,