‘Pennyworth’ showrunner explains why the Batman prequel series got an on-the-nose new subtitle

Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler creator Bruno Heller admits that the new subtitle makes a lot of sense. The show was originally titled just Pennyworth on Epix for its first two seasons, but when it moved over to HBO Max for its third, it came with a new subtitle that makes things a little clearer.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly at New York Comic Con, Heller explained why he’s happy with this change based on the audience’s response.

“HBO Max did their research, and they discovered a fair few people who had watched and enjoyed the first few seasons of Pennyworth, but had not realized it was about Batman. They just thought it was about a bloke who left the army.

“That’s a bit of an error, in terms of our conceptualization. Should’ve thrown in a lot more Easter Eggs! It became clear that it was just a sensible, matter-of-fact thing to do. We came up with a thousand versions of that: The Journey of Batman’s Mentor, The Life of Batman’s Guardian. But the simplest thing is best.”

The series follows Alfred “Alfie” Pennyworth (Jack Bannon) as a former British SAS soldier dealing with his tragic past, and his involvement in a conflict between powerful parties in London, England – the extremist fascist group known as the Raven Society and the No Name League, a radical left-wing, undercover group plotting to take them down.

Alfie works as a bouncer at an exclusive club and starts his own security firm with his two army buddies. He meets Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge) and Martha Kane (Emma Paetz) who are part of the No Name League, and each has secrets of their own. They eventually join forces to stop the Raven Society from gaining control over London.

Season three will bring Pennyworth and company into new territory as a five-year time jump will take place. The civil war is over, and a cultural revolution has changed the world as a new age of superheroes and supervillains rises.

The series will be diving ever deeper into the main characters’ personal lives when Thomas’ father Patrick Wayne (Richard Dillane) comes to London and brings with him tension and problems. This relationship will echo the one Thomas will have with his son Bruce, and there will of course be more spy and action-packed goodness as the heroes take on new threats.

The first three episodes of Pennyworth season three are available to stream on HBO Max.