Epix’s “Batman” prequel series “Pennyworth” returns tonight with a third season that’s settling into its new home at HBO Max. It also boasts a new title – the inexplicably wordy “Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler”.
Fun has been made of the new and rather explanative moniker since it was announced, even if some can sympathise with the reasoning as the show hasn’t had the level of attention (or ratings) of some of the other DC Comics series adaptations.
The series follows Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon) as a young man and former special forces soldier in London. It hails from co-creator and producer Bruno Heller who recently spoke with Deadline about the name change:
“The beauty of the DC canon is that pretty much everyone has a smattering of knowledge about it… 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.”
Heller says the show is “very much Alfred’s story” and focuses on the origin story of the world that leads to the entry of the superheroes and supervillains, rather than the characters themselves.
Whether the series will get to go another season with all of Warner Bros. Discovery’s cutbacks remains to be seen, but HBO Max is certainly trying to get people to tune in.
