Lioness Star Michael Kelly Was In One Of The Best HBO Shows Of The Past Decade

Not long before Michael Kelly was taking down terrorist threats as CIA Deputy Director of Operations Byron Westfield in Paramount+'s "Lioness," he was playing a Gotham City crime boss in one of the best HBO shows of the past decade: "The Penguin." Picking up after the events of Matt Reeves' "The Batman," the Emmy-winning crime drama told the story of how Oswald Cobb (Colin Farrell) rose to power and seized control of Gotham's criminal empire.

The miniseries also starred Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, the daughter of deceased crime lord Carmine Falcone. Kelly played Johnny Viti, a high-ranking Falcone crime family underboss who took over the drug syndicate's day-to-day operations following Carmine's death. But in a series where Gotham's elite mob bosses are all caught in a multisided turf war, nobody is safe, and Viti ultimately met his end halfway through the season.

In fact, Kelly practically saw the writing on the wall before he even stepped on set. As he revealed to CinemaBlend, his five-episode arc was a dead giveaway. "I was like, 'Oh, I'm dying. Got it,'" Kelly laughed, noting his sister even texted him predicting Johnny's inevitable doom after watching Episode 2. "I've seen myself die on the screen so many times, it's okay," he added, though lying in a pool of blood while crew members gathered money around him was admittedly "weird." 

Johnny's death came directly at the hands of Sofia Falcone (Milioti). After torturing Johnny in a freezing mausoleum, she spares him. But when he makes the fatal mistake of undermining her authority in a room full of rival gang leaders, she shoots him to assert her dominance.

During an interview with The Wrap, Kelly praised Milioti's talent, revealing that the natural chemistry between them was instant. "The two of us got on really well. I like and respect her so much and we just jumped into it and started sparring," he told the outlet. "It reminded me a lot of the stuff that I had with Rachel Brosnahan on 'House of Cards.' You're doing it with that person, you're just like, 'Oh, wow this kid. This kid's really good.'"

The star was also blown away by Farrell's unrecognizable transformation into Oz Cobb. He told CinemaBlend that he was particularly impressed by a tactic Farrell used before the prosthetics were applied. "He wore a ski mask for the table read. It was the most baller move I'd ever seen," Kelly shared. When he finally saw Farrell in full makeup on set, Kelly was stunned: "I'm walking up to him ... and I was just like, 'I can't believe what I'm looking at ... the makeup was so unbelievable.'" 

"The Penguin" ended up being nominated for 24 Emmys, raking in a total of nine, including the awards for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup and Outstanding Contemporary Makeup. Milioti took home the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her tour de force performance as Sofia.