During an exclusive interview with CBR, Jack Bannon spoke about how "cool" it can feel to play Alfred in Epix's Pennyworth, how the second season reveals more of his character and which DC hero he'd like most to encounter in the series.
Pennyworth focuses on a young Alfred Pennyworth, the man who one day serves as Batman's surrogate father, butler and greatest ally in his war against crime. The series might have some minor ties to the future fate of the character — such as Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane being regular players in the series — but Season 2 has been allowed to expand in some unexpected ways — including a massive civil war that's overtaken the show's world's version of Britain, dividing the island into separate factions. Notably, Alfred has been able to carve out a comfortable life for himself as a club owner in a demilitarized zone, catering to officers and agents from each side of the conflict.
The shadow of Batman may have hung over some of the initial thoughts about the series, but Bannon thinks the show has more than moved past that as it embraces a completely different franchise. "I think in Season 1, we weren't necessarily under a cloud of Batman but people were sort of expecting like, 'where does [Batman] fit into it?' And he doesn't, unfortunately. It's entirely its own thing... I think it's important. One of the strongest things about Season 1 was the world that [Bruno Heller] created, that we created as a whole and that version of London. I think this [season] takes this version of London and puts it at war, so that's another side of it. A fully other side of it we haven't seen. It's just fantastic fun. The production design, you can just tell it's a joy for them. Walking onto the sets, it's fantastic."
This incarnation of Alfred is a lean and charming figure, always with a line or quip prepared, regardless of the situation. He's even become more of a suave character in the new season, which adds some James Bond-style spy-craft trappings to the character and his world. Speaking about what it's like to play an eternally and effortlessly cool character like this version of Alfred, Bannon admitted "it is great. You have to watch it, because it can start to get into your head.
"When you're playing him all day every day, you suddenly start thinking subconsciously 'oh, I'm the coolest guy in the universe.' And then you come home and your girlfriend is saying 'no no, don't, that's not you, mate. You're Jack, you're not Alfred. And you think you've got all these one-liners up your sleeve and you can solve problems by being cool and suave but you can't. It's great fun when you're there. As soon as you put the suits on, you start moving differently and thinking differently. It's great."
Reflecting on the history of the character of Alfred and what connects the various versions of him that have appeared over the years and across various forms of media, Bannon revealed that "I think the swagger, is something that carries through. Really, it's his morals. That's what's interesting, to try and build a younger version of a character we've seen in his later years. Bruno has written such a cool, young Alfred that you're thinking how does that get to the butler. But there are certain bits, and especially in this season as well we see a bit more of that stuff come through. I think at his heart, Alfred is a kind, moral, selfless individual."
While Pennyworth is largely disconnected from the grander DC Universe, there's still always the chance that elements of it could bleed into the Alfred's adventures — especially now that the show has been teased to eventually make the move to America for a time. Thinking about what other DC characters or concepts he'd like to see Alfred encounter, Bannon admitted that "Superman would be quite good, wouldn't it? I think that would kind of work. A kind of '60s weird version of Superman would be great."
Check out the interview below.
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, Jessica Ellerby as the Queen and Simon Manyonda as Lucius Fox. Season 2 premieres Dec. 13 on EPIX.