Martha Kane just found herself in a world of trouble. In "Cilla Black," the latest episode of Pennyworth, Martha joined Thomas Wayne's sister Patricia for a night on the town. Soon, they found themselves at the residence of Aleister Crowley, a self-proclaimed Satanist and cultist. The party quickly went sideways for Martha, who soon found herself before a creature with a man's body and the head of a goat with six eyes. Worse, at the end of the episode, she woke up naked in a field with no recollection of how she came to be there.
Speaking to CBR, Martha Kane actor Emma Paetz revealed how quickly the series will deal with the fallout of what happened to her character. She teased how this latest turn of events will impact Martha for the rest of the series, how it brings her closer to the Wayne siblings and why it sets her on a different path than Alfred. She also weighed in on her favorite moment from the upcoming episodes, her dream arc for her character and more.
CBR: "Cilla Black" sees Martha enter this den of iniquity with Patricia Wayne, which leaves her in some dire straits. How quickly will we see the fallout from that?
Paetz: Immediately. Immediately.
How long will Martha deal with that fallout?
I think it's definitely something that stays with her, and actually the fallout of that, because it's such a huge and upsetting event, ends up further entwining Thomas Wayne and Patricia Wayne and Martha Kane. Actually, their story isn't done yet because of the hugeness of what happened.
The Aleister Crowley storyline feels like it's deviating from Alfred's recent tragedy. Would it be accurate to say he's almost Martha's own, personal nemesis?
In this episode? No. When she meets Crowley, I think she's a bit drawn in by him, because he's got this charismatic darkness and Martha is sort of tuned into her own darkness and they recognize something in each other. Crowley's very, very quickly able to pierce through to the quick of Martha in a way that other people aren't able to do. I think she's taken aback by that, put on the back foot, and she's not used to being put on the back foot by people.
Speaking of Alfred, Martha has kind of hit a speed bump in her relationship with him. How does that change moving forward?
I would say that they definitely have come to a fork in the road by this episode, in terms of where their focuses are. So they've got their focuses diverged for a while.
Can you tease a moment or scene you can't wait for fans to see?
I guess I'm excited for people to see the sort of subtle intricacies of how the relationship between Martha and Thomas starts to shift. They end up getting thrown together a lot more. The rapport between them was really interesting to do, because it initially came out of such a place of disdain, and then how that grows and changes throughout the season was really fun for Ben [Aldridge] and I to investigate. I hope that it's enjoyable for people to watch.
What is your dream story arc for this character?
Oh, that's a good question. I don't have anything specific, because I'm sort of up for whatever Bruno [Heller] wants to do because he hasn't steered us wrong so far, but I really like seeing Martha derailed. I would like to explore her darkness even more. That's when I find her really intriguing, because I think how dark she can go can be surprising to people and I'd like to see more of that.
How is Pennyworth different from your past acting experiences?
I haven't done a lot of acting in my own accent, which has been really fun to do, because I'm from Canada originally, but I came over to the UK to train, to go to drama school. Ever since, I've done more theater and series over here but in different British dialects. It's been really interesting to sort of find myself in my own accent through the lens of Martha. It's strange that something as simple as an accent can make such a difference, but it really has. Sometimes, using an accent or a dialect can feel a bit like you as an actor use it as a crutch. It's a mask. It's something that distances you from the character, so it feels like you're working. But when that's taken away, it's very raw and exposing and there's sort of no place to hide. You take it! There's no place to hide from the truth. So that's been really good to come back to, working on Pennyworth.
I was chatting with Ben Aldridge the other day, and he said you helped him really perfect his American accent. Tell me more about that.
Yes, well, I did enjoy -- sometimes he would ask for a word and I would say it really extravagantly in the wrong, interesting, idiotic way. And I'd be like, "Yeah, I know that sounds strange, but that's how Americans say it." I would always pull the plug before it got down to him actually saying it in a take. So I was a very caring and concerned fellow actor in that way. [laughs] But no, he did. Yeah, he did. He just wanted it to be as accurate as possible, so he didn't have any ego whatsoever and being like, "If I say something that sounds stupid, you have to tell me." I can't think of anything specific. He was so on it from the beginning. There would just be a few words here and there and I would usually tell him the ridiculous way to say it first, before giving him the actual way.
Developed by former Gotham collaborators Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon, Pennyworth stars Jack Bannon as Alfred Pennyworth, Ben Aldridge as Thomas Wayne, Jason Flemyng as Lord Harwood, Paloma Faith as Bet Sykes, Ryan Fletcher as Dave Boy, Hainsley Lloyd Bennett as Bazza and Jessica Ellerby as the Queen. The series airs Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT on EPIX.