Is Theo Rossi’s Dr. Julian Rush Really Scarecrow? ‘The Penguin’ Showrunner Weighs In!

‘The Penguin’ is the latest installment in Matt Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga. The show has been a massive success and brought home several nominations and awards. Following Colin Farrell’s big Golden Globes win, it wasn’t that much of a surprise when it was revealed that the show would in fact get a second season.

In the final episode, Batman was teased but no one actually expected Pattinson’s Batman to show up in the series, we did however expect a lot of references and hints to classic Batman villains that haunt the streets of Gotham.

One such hint seemingly appeared in connection to Dr. Julian Rush. In one of the scenes in the show, there’s a glove with needles and a menacing mask in Julian’s office—clear references to one of Batman’s most dangerous and iconic villains, Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. Scarecrow. Although Crane doesn’t appear in the series (Dr. Ventris does, but he’s not Scarecrow).

This theory blew up at the time with plenty of fans agreeing that it has to be some kind of a hint that points toward Julian’s future, however, it seems that this is not the case. At the 2025 Golden Globes, ‘The Penguin’ showrunner Lauren LeFranc told ScreenRant that Dr. Julian Rush is not Scarecrow, dismissing the theory directly.

“Well, I can say he’s not the Scarecrow”.

Some past reports claimed that Scarecrow was supposed to be featured in the show but was dropped completely by LeFranc and Reeves for unknown reasons. This was never officially confirmed and the chatter died down pretty quickly.

Kalina Ivanov, the show’s production designer, responded to the fan theory without confirming or denying it. She mentioned that they “left it open to interpretation,” implying that the items on the table might be inspired by the Scarecrow.

But, thanks to LeFranc’s most recent revelations, it once again seems as if the fans read too much into it.

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