Pennyworth Gets Ridiculous New Title For Season 3
Here comes season 3!
Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of DC, is going out of their way to tick off their fans with dumb decisions these days, and they aren’t letting up. Their latest announcement is yet another head-scratcher, and proof that the media giant thinks DC fans are idiots. According to an exclusive report by IGN, the DC live-action series Pennyworth is getting a new title, revealed in a trailer for the show’s upcoming third season. It’s now called Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler, and we wish we were kidding about that. The listing for the series on the HBO Max app is already reflecting the title change.
The series, set in post-war Britain, tells the story of former SAS soldier Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon), who meets and goes to work for American businessman Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge) and his wife Martha (Emma Paetz), years before Bruce is born. It premiered in July of 2019 on the cable network Epix, but is also available on HBO Max. The third season of Pennyworth, due to premiere this October, will become an HBO Max original production exclusive to the streaming service.
According to a new synopsis, season three of Pennyworth will feature a five-year time jump from the end of the second season. It will focus on a “cultural revolution” that has introduced both super heroes and super villains into the world. The series also stars Paloma Faith, Ryan Fletcher, Dorothy Atkinson, Ramon Tikaram, Harriet Slater, and Simon Manyonda and is executive produced by Bruno Heller, Matthew Patnick, Danny Cannon, and John Stephens.
Although there hasn’t been an official explanation for the title change, it seems easy to speculate as to why. It was likely a corporate decision based on focus group research that found some TV viewers weren’t aware of Pennyworth’s connection to Batman. The title change seems to be an obvious gimmick to lure more viewers in, but this sort of mentality wasn’t always the case. The live-action Superman prequel series Smallville was a hit for the WB/CW network, and had no problem informing viewers of its Superman ties.
The title change for Pennyworth is minor compared to the big moves Warner Bros. Discovery has made in recent months, which has left DC fans both angry and bewildered. It cancelled the already-completed HBO Max movie Batgirl, despite a $90 million price tag and the appearance of Michael Keaton reprising the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. It has also reportedly cancelled the upcoming Supergirl movie, with Sasha Calle in the title role. It also cancelled The Wonder Twins movie, which was in development but had already announced the casting of KJ Apa (Riverdale) and Isabel May (1883) as the leads.
The Flash movie, despite numerous delays and issues regarding actor Ezra Miller, is still on track to be released. The same holds true for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which has been delayed to 2023. In fact, it was recently revealed that Ben Affleck would reprise his role as Batman for the Jason Momoa film, despite reports that he was done playing the role. The move may be, in part, to counter the appearance of Amber Heard, who is still reportedly in the film despite pushback over the Johnny Depp defamation case. The future for Pennyworth beyond this season is not clear, with Warner Bros. Discovery speculated to be moving away from scripted content and toward reality programming.
