A pre-Batman ‘Pennyworth’ takes on evildoers in dark EPIX drama
Fans of “Batman” will surely want to check out a series from the makers of “Gotham” that explores the backstory of one of the franchise’s secondary characters and debuts this week on EPIX.
In “Pennyworth,” an hourlong drama from Danny Cannon and Bruno Heller that premieres Sunday, July 28, Jack Bannon (“Medici”) stars as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s future butler and an amiable young man in a dark, foreboding 1962 London, who is just off a stint as a Special Air Service soldier, where he served his country alongside friends Bazza (Hainsley Lloyd Bennett, “Catastrophe”) and Dave Boy (Ryan Fletcher, “Outlander”).
Taking a job as a nightclub bouncer, he meets and falls for bohemian dancer Esme (Emma Corrin, “The Crown”) and makes the acquaintance of American tycoon Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge, “Fleabag”), the yet-to-be-born Bruce’s father. But when a sniper takes a shot at Wayne and Esme is kidnapped by Bet Sykes (played by British chanteuse Paloma Faith), an operative for the right-wing Raven Society, Alfred and his pals must take action to rectify both situations.
“This is really the origin story of that Pennyworth character ...,” Heller explained to a recent gathering of journalists in Pasadena, Calif. “And it’s really the chance to make him the center of a story and explain that journey. How did he get from being a young SAS soldier to being a butler in America? And it also gives us a chance to create a real world around him, a world in England that fits the whole DC universe . ... Jack and these guys here have created a world as we’re going. So, it’s surprising to all of us the depth and range that you can go to with this character.”
Indeed, while Bannon says he had a fair amount of latitude in creating the young Pennyworth, that also came with some responsibility to remain reasonably faithful to the DC Comics character that fans know.
“There is a huge amount of pressure,” the actor says, “and obviously some incredible people have played him later on in life, but ... what takes the pressure off is that we’ve never seen him this age . ... You know, the world that Bruno’s created is a great playground for us to muck about in. And we’re sort of rewriting little bits and changing little bits and having fun with it. So that alleviates the pressure.”