For several years the showrunners of Epix’s “Pennyworth” series, a Batman prequel following Alfred Pennyworth in 1960s London, have spoken about a spiritual connection between the series and Alan Moore’s seminal work “V for Vendetta”.
Two years ago, executive producer Bruno Heller told CBR that: “The V For Vendetta world conceptually – it’s [like] where this world may or may not end up” and went on to praise the comic’s portrait of a believable darker fascist England.
Cut to this week, with the show’s third season in the midst of airing, and it would appear they’ve upped their game with that ‘spiritual’ connection seemingly turning a bit more literal.
The final scene of this week’s fourth episode of the new season shows someone in ‘V’ costume (mask, hair, hat, cape, all-black outfit) and doing a voice similar to Hugo Weaving’s turn in the “V for Vendetta” film adaptation talking to Dr. Glubb (Paul Brightwell) whom he has taken hostage and tied to a chair.
As creator series creator Danny Cannon has previously indicated (via Bleeding Cool) the series also serves as a something of a prequel to FOX’s “Gotham” – a show he and Heller previously created and worked on prior to “Pennyworth”.
Naturally, this has led to plenty of people losing their minds online about this potential shared universe, confusion over timelines, and just how directly connected the rest of the season will be to ‘Vendetta’.
More importantly though, especially for HBO Max, it has gotten people talking about the show as old quotes from both Heller and Cannon showcasing how far back the ‘V’ connection has been teased are resurfacing. So far, producers have been quiet about the recent episode reveal.
