The Penguin director and EP Craig Zobel has explained the reasoning for changing the title character's real name to Oz Cobb, while also addressing Court of Owls fan theories...

The Penguin is set to premiere on the Max streaming service tomorrow, and while there is a lot of excitement for the show, some fans are not on board with the decision to change the title character's real name from Oswald Cobblepot to Oswald "Oz" Cobb.

This may not seem like a huge deal, but it is viewed as an unnecessary change, and many feel that it demonstrates an unwillingness to embrace the fact that this series is based on a comic book - even if it is a more "grounded" take.

The Hollywood Handle asked director/EP Craig Zobel about the change, while also bringing up a fan theory that "Cobb" might signify some connection to Court of Owls assassin William Cobb.

"I can't 100% answer that because I don't know everything in Matt Reeves' mind, but largely, we all kinda felt like Cobblepot wasn't a real person's name. The goal was to just find a real, rooted, more grounded name."

Cobblepot is certainly an odd name, but it's not on the same level as something like Edward Nygma, which was - more understandably - changed to Edward Nashton for The Batman movie.

What do you make of this change? Check out the video interview below, and let us know in the comment section.

The Penguin also stars Cristin Milioti (Sofia Falcone), Rhenzy Feliz (Victor Aguilar), Michael Kelly (Johnny Viti), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Nadia Maroni), Deirdre O'Connell (Francis Cobb), Clancy Brown (Salvatore Maroni), James Madio (Milos Grapa), Scott Cohen (Luca Falcone), Michael Zegen (Alberto Falcone), Carmen Ejogo (Eve Karlo), and Theo Rossi (Dr. Julian Rush).

The eight-episode DC Studios drama series continues The Batman epic crime saga that filmmaker Matt Reeves began with Warner Bros. Pictures' global blockbuster The Batman, and centers on the character played by Farrell in the film.

The series is executive produced by Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner, Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes, and Bill Carraro. Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, the show is produced by Reeves' 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer.