Pennyworth producer calls the Batman prequel unhinged and R-rated

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

There have been so many incarnations of Batman on television that it's reached the point where we're about to get a series based around his butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Coming from Gotham executive producers Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon, Pennyworth is set to tell the origin of Bruce Wayne's future butler in a story set in 1960's London. After completing his service as a British SAS soldier, the young and charismatic Alfred Pennyworth forms a security company and finds an employer in Thomas Wayne.

During the Television Critics Associations winter press-tour, Danny Cannon spilled a few details regarding what we can expect from the new series. "It’s twentysomething years before Gotham, it’s a very different world," Cannon said. "This is the DC version of 1960s London." This means that Pennyworth won't exactly feature the London we're familiar with. "It’s not the England we know. It looks and feels like, but if you look a little closer, [you ask], ‘Why is that like that? Why is that building there? What war is he talking about?'" Cannon added. The EP also promised that Pennyworth will be a completely "unhinged, R-rated" series, especially when compared to Gotham. I'm…intrigued. As far as villains go, it seems that we won't be seeing ancestors of characters such as the Joker or Penguin, but rather "archetypal villains and classic villains of British literature," which Cannon teases could include descendants of Jack the Ripper.

Jack Bannon, seen above, will be playing Alfred Pennyworth in the series, with Ben Aldridge playing Thomas Wayne. Paloma Faith will play Alfred’s main adversary, Bet Sykes, who is described as a "spirited, sadistic and sharp-tongued villain." Bet's sister, Peggy Sykes (Polly Walker), is one of Lancashire’s busiest and most successful dominatrixes. The sensible matriarch in a family of maniacs, Peggy is fiercely loyal, endlessly resourceful and lives by her own strange but rigorous moral code. Jason Flemyng plays baddie Lord Harwood. According to Cannon, the reaction they've had from test audiences so far has been incredibly positive. The 10-episode series is set to debut on Epix later this year.