‘Pennyworth’ Cancelled After 3 Seasons
As Warner Bros Discovery continues its “clean up” of DC, ‘Pennyworth‘ is the latest show to get the axe.
The series followed Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon), a former British SAS soldier in his 20s, who forms a security company in 1960s London and goes to work with young billionaire Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge), who has not yet become Bruce Wayne’s father.
The series began on US network Epix, before being moved over to HBO Max for season three, where it was given the subtitle of “The Origin of Batman’s Butler.” The drama airs on Lionsgate+ in the UK.
“While HBO Max is not moving forward with another season of Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler, we are very thankful to creator Bruno Heller and executive producers Matthew Patnick, Danny Cannon and John Stephens, along with Warner Bros. Television, for their brilliant, unique, gripping depiction of the origin of Alfred Pennyworth, one of the most iconic characters in the Batman world,” commented an HBO Max spokesperson. “An incredible blend of action, drama and humour, for three seasons, Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler has taken fans on a mind-bending ride into Alfred’s eccentric world and the beginnings of cutting-edge superheroes and supervillains.”
This latest cancellation comes follows a string of axings/ending of DC television properties including CW’s Arrowverse shows, ‘Stargirl’, ‘Titans’ and ‘Doom Patrol’. Currently, the only live-action series to survive are ‘Superman & Lois‘, which returns for season three next month in the USA on The CW, and ‘Peacemaker‘, which will return for season two. There is also the ‘Harley Quinn‘ animated series, and Netflix’s ‘The Sandman‘ which is technically a DC show, although completely unconnected to anything else.
It also follows the big announcement from new DC Studios heads, James Gunn and Peter Safran, earlier this week about their reshaped vision for DC which will create one cohesive Universe across tv, film and video games. On a side note, Gunn has previously made it clear that all of these cancellations were decided prior to them getting their new gig, so were not their call. What they are doing is making sure that shows and films, such as ‘Superman & Lois’ and Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’, which fall outside of the new DCU, will be clearly branded as “Elseworlds” projects which take place in a different universe to their new one, the same way they are distinguished in the comicbooks.
However, Gunn and Safran did announce a number of live-action DC tv projects which will be part of the new DCU. These include ‘Lanterns‘, a Green Lantern series featuring Hal Jordan and John Stewart; ‘Paradise Lost‘, the origin story of Themyscira, Wonder Woman’s homeland; ‘Waller‘, featuring Viola Davis returning as Amanda Waller; And a ‘Booster Gold‘ series, based around the fan favourite character. There is also a new animated series, ‘Creature Commandos’, which is written by Gunn.
If you want to catch up on the 3 Seasons of ‘Pennyworth‘, they can all be found on streaming service Lionsgate+ in the UK.
