Credit: Pennyworth
Pennyworth is back!
For anyone who’s been living under a rock, the show is a prequel about Batman’s No. 1 guy: Alfred Pennyworth. This follows the popular character who forms a security company and tracks his adventures with Thomas Wayne in 1960s London. Jack Bannon plays the title character; with the actor’s previous credits including The Imitation Game and Fury. Other names of the supporting cast are Ben Aldridge (Thomas Wayne), Emma Paetz (Martha Kane), Dorothy Atkinson (Mary Pennyworth), Paloma Faith (Bet Sykes), and Ryan Fletcher (Wade ‘Dave Boy’ MacDougal).
The show started out on Epix in the first and second seasons but eventually moved to HBO Max for the latest season. Given the incredible depth of content when it comes to superheroes, Pennyworth hasn’t managed to garner the attention and success that shows like Peacemaker and WandaVision have, though that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad series.
Credit: Pennyworth
On October 6, the show will begin its new season on the streaming site and Bruno Heller – Gotham and Rome fame – talked to Deadline about making such a big transition for the DC show: “Years ago, people had very few choices. Now it’s much more like a supermarket,” says the Pennyworth creator. “I don’t mean to be crass about this, but you’re on a shelf and where you are on the shelf becomes very important in a way that it wasn’t before. So platforms matter. We are just very excited to be in the center aisle, in the middle of shelf, next to the cornflakes instead of up there with the maple honey granola with soy granules in it. All of those cereals have an audience, but you get a bigger audience if you’re next to the Frosted Flakes.”
Though Epix is a notable name that has produced shows such as Get Shorty and Berlin Station, the network doesn’t necessarily have as big of an audience as HBO Max. The brand itself is huge, with HBO being one of the most prestigious networks that kickstarted an era of excellent television thanks to shows such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, and Game of Thrones (minus the last two seasons). The HBO name has a long history and a much bigger audience, something that Heller hopes to attract, even though HBO Max’s future is uncertain, “The beauty of the DC canon is that pretty much everyone has a smattering of knowledge about it,” said Heller. “But there are several steps from name recognition to eyeballs on the screen. I think HBO Max was right. Visibility and clarity is everything… though I wish it could have been ‘the butler that changed America’ because I always like that in book titles.”
Credit: Pennyworth
As previously stated, HBO Max’s future is uncertain as multiple reports state that the streaming service will collapse and merge with Discovery in 2023. However, given all the rumors that Dave Zaslav might be trying to sell Warner Brothers Discovery then there’s truly no clarity on what’s next for the service and show following the third season. It should be noted that Zaslav shut down the speculation by stating it’s not for sale, but it’s not like executives and businessmen aren’t prone to lying. Still, the purpose is to gain enough viewership so Pennyworth can be valuable to continue on in the future, and Heller further explains the purpose of the origin series:
“You’re getting premonitions and presaging of those characters. This is very much Alfred’s story. It’s the parents’ story. The world is getting for the entry of those superheroes and supervillains. You’re seeing the origin stories of how that world came to be rather than those characters themselves.”
Pennyworth is currently streaming on HBO Max with an expected episode count of ten for the third season.
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