“Pennyworth” has been canceled at HBO Max after three seasons, PvNew has learned.
The third season, officially titled “Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler,” was the first season of the show to originate on HBO Max. The series originally debuted on Epix in 2019, with Season 2 airing on that channel in two chunks in 2020 and 2021. Season 3 launched on HBO Max in October 2022.
“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,” an HBO Max spokesperson said in a statement. “An incredible blend of action, drama and humor, 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 super heroes and super villains.”
If the title did not make it clear, the series told the origin story of Alfred Pennyworth, most famously known as Batman’s butler. Jack Bannon starred as Pennyworth, a former SAS soldier who forms a security firm in 1960s London. During this time, he begins working with a young Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge) and Martha Wayne (Emma Paetz). The cast also included Paloma Faith, Ryan Fletcher, Dorothy Atkinson, Ramon Tikaram, Harriet Slater, and Simon Manyonda.
“Pennyworth” was based on DC characters created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger. Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon developed the series for television and served as executive producers along with Matthew Patnick and John Stephens. Warner Bros. Television is the studio.
The move to cancel the series comes as DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran are looking to reboot the DC franchise at Warner Bros. To that end, the pair recently announced a wide-ranging slate of film and television projects that are meant to roll out over the next several years.
