Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon, the masterminds behind Batman prequel, Gotham, are staying in the DC Universe a little longer. EPIX has just done a straight to series order for Pennyworth, the story of Batman’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth, and how he came to work for the Wayne family.
No, wait, come back. There’s a rather cool hook to this, as Pennyworth will be a period piece, set in London in the 1960s.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“[Pennyworth] follows Bruce Wayne’s legendary butler, Alfred Pennyworth, a former British SAS soldier who forms a security company and goes to work with Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s billionaire father, in 1960’s London.”
“As genuine fans of these classic DC characters, as well as the incredibly talented Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon, we couldn’t be more excited to make EPIX the home of this series,” EPIX President Michael Wright said in a statement. “We can’t wait to work with Bruno and Danny – along with Peter Roth, Susan Rovner, Brett Paul and the team at Warner Horizon – on this fantastic origin story.”
“Michael and his colleagues have created the perfect venue for original storytelling, and all of us working on Pennyworth are thrilled to be on the EPIX slate,” added Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon.
This will probably move pretty quickly, with production expected to begin this year for a 2019 premiere date. Pennyworth joins a host of superhero prequels at the moment. Gotham will return for its fifth and final season in 2019. Warner Bros. is developing Metropolis for its DC Universe streaming service, and Krypton is currently airing on Syfy in the US, and will shortly be heading to E4 here in the UK.
More as we have it.