WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the Season 2 premiere of Pennyworth, which aired Sunday on EPIX.
Pennyworth tells the origin story of Bruce Wayne's famous butler, Alfred Pennyworth. It takes place in the '60s and it also features Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane, Batman's future parents, as supporting players.
Despite the presence of these three characters, the EPIX series has very few direct connections to the DC Universe and the Batman mythos. Throughout the first season, there were very few indications Pennyworth was connected to the world of the Caped Crusader at all. That changes in the Season 2 premiere, which delivers a mention of Gotham City's iconic Arkham Asylum.
Pennyworth's second season premiere takes place a full year after the events of the Season 1 finale. At the end of the last episode, Thomas and Martha were growing closer, but they were interrupted when Thomas was shot from the window by an unseen assailant. Now, a year later, Thomas is no longer in London -- he's back home in the U.S., working at the CIA headquarters.
When the show catches up with Thomas, he is giving a presentation to his superiors detailing the deteriorating situation in the United Kingdom. He explains that the Raven Society, which has now evolved into the Raven Union, has nearly invaded and taken over the entire county.
The only city left standing is London, which is the stronghold of the Queen's forces, the English League. The country is in a state of civil war and once London falls, he foresees that all hell will break loose.
In fact, if London falls, Thomas says it will essentially be like Arkham Asylum over there. Arkham Asylum is the famed asylum for the criminally insane located in Gotham City, where all of Batman's iconic enemies are locked up. It's a landmark all on its own. Arkham Asylum is such an important part of the mythos that it has been home to multiple Batman stories in comics, movies, television and even video games.
Although the location doesn't appear in Pennyworth, its mention is still noteworthy, because it's confirmed to exist in the television series' universe.
This marks one of the few times when Pennyworth has actually acknowledged that it's part of the bigger Batman world. What's more, if it's being used to draw a comparison to a fallen country, it shows that even in the '60s, Arkham Asylum already has a reputation for being a dark and twisted place. And that is quite a few years before the first costumed supervillain would ever attack Gotham City.
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.