The third season of Pennyworth brings many adjustments to the collection, each inside and exterior to its manufacturing. Originally airing on EPIX, the collection’ transfer to HBO Max additionally introduced a much bigger effort to convey the adventures of Alfred Pennyworth, Thomas and Martha Wayne, Lucius Fox and the remainder of the forged into the superhero universe of the Waynes’ eventual son—Batman.
It’s a fragile steadiness, nonetheless. After all, the present’s departure from most every part recognizable to Batman is what has stored Pennyworth distinctive amongst DCTV exhibits as a retro spy-thriller set inside an alternate universe. Yes, it options Bruce Wayne’s mother and father, however the Dark Knight-to-be is but to be seen. Last season ended with the newlyweds giving delivery to not a son, however a fair-haired daughter named Samantha. If that wasn’t sufficient of a shock, in season three we fast-forward 5 years to the late Sixties the place there’s nonetheless no Bruce, however trend, music and the opposite signatures of flower energy popular culture sign the adjustments that our characters are going by way of. But why the time bounce?
“Some of it was having Thomas and Martha have a child at the end of season two, and it’s very hard to have a baby on set,” admits Executive Producer Bruno Heller. “Having a five- or six-year-old is much easier. Part of it too was wanting the new season to have a different look and feel than what came before it.”
“I think that’s an exciting element of it,” enthuses Ben Aldridge, who performs Thomas Wayne. “I’m glad we jumped ahead five years, with all the psychedelics and fashion of the period. The psychedelic drugs really play into our main storyline. They’re kind of our baddie, basically. And to be wearing different clothes of the time, I’m a really big fan of the time-jump, actually.”
The transition from season two to season three was a problem for the UK-based manufacturing, nevertheless it’s not due to the transfer over to HBO Max, which the producers discovered to be seamless. Rather, it was filming throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We were the first Warner Bros. show to go back into production (after the shutdown),” explains Executive Producer John Stephens. “It was kind of scary for a lot of people—kind of like making a movie during wartime. But we felt like we were doing something useful.”
Aldridge had his personal sense of satisfaction in filming season three. In his case, a lot of it stemmed from Thomas’s narrative, which took a stunning flip within the season’s third episode.
“There’s something major that happens, that Thomas does, that I didn’t see coming at all (before reading the script), and it leads to a helluva lot of drama,” Aldridge says. “He has some big stuff coming that made me go, ‘Oh, they want me to act!’”
As for the time-skip, a lot has clearly warmed between the often-bickering Waynes, however that doesn’t imply viewers ought to count on easy crusing. These are individuals who have trafficked in nationwide secrets and techniques, in any case.
“They’re always going to be tested, I think,” suggests Aldridge. “We meet them at the beginning of season three, it’s five years on and it’s all quite harmonious. They have their daughter, Samantha, who’s five. And Thomas is a responsible family man. He’s a pediatrician, which is more in line with the comic books. But there is a big reveal from Martha that causes a lot of tension between them, a lot of trust issues. And Patrick Wayne, his father, arrives and that really stirs the plot. Thomas tries his best to stay on the straight and narrow, but he’s become re-embroiled back into darkness after spending the last five years trying to avoid it.”
As for the collection’ namesake, Alfred Pennyworth, he’s nonetheless wrestling together with his character’s core problem—his relationship to violence, which appears to have solely grown tighter these previous 5 years.
“I think violence is in him,” says the person who embodies him, actor Jack Bannon. “Throughout his time in the SAS he’s seen a lot of it. He perpetrated a lot of it as well, it’s something he’s good at unfortunately. He’s always pulled back into that world.”
For all of the adjustments to the collection, the Pennyworth workforce additionally guarantees that we’ll be coming into extra acquainted territory as properly. The characters will probably be visiting Gotham City for the primary time on display, and we’ll be seeing what quantities to an early, nearly prototype model of the Batman villain Clayface. But in the meanwhile, simply surviving the season with everybody’s sense of self intact is a reasonably large victory, even when that sense of self adjustments.
“What happens in life and what’s important to you changes after jumping ahead five years,” explains Bannon. “I’ve been playing Alfred for four years now, and thinking about how my life has changed, sitting with those thoughts, really helped my thinking going into season three.”
Part of that entails seeing acquainted traits begin to emerge, suggesting that the present’s new subtitle—“The Origin of Batman’s Butler”—is greater than only a option to lure in Bat-fans.
“We begin to see the nurturing nature of Alfred, and it’s amusing to see him interact with children for the first time,” says Bannon. “He’s got a line early on, ‘I don’t like babies,’ which is quite funny.”
Still, don’t count on any potential future seasons to see Alfie busting out a tux and answering doorways for the Waynes. At least not any time quickly.
“With the new subtitle, there is a show somewhere of a man ironing shirts and learning how to make tea, but for now it’s not that exciting, is it?” Bannon laughs.
New episodes of Pennyworth drop Thursdays on HBO Max. Keep up with Alfie’s newest exploits on our official Pennyworth collection web page.
Donovan Morgan Grant writes about comics, graphic novels and superhero historical past for DC.com. Follow him on Twitter at @donoDMG1.
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