Batman‘s beloved butler Alfred is set to get his own 10-episode, hour-long drama series called Pennyworth, which will showcase his life before becoming the “man in the chair” for Bruce Wayne. As it turns out, a lot of his life was similar to that of James Bond‘s (it's always the quiet ones). In the trailer, we see a young Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon) meeting young billionaire Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge) in London during the 1960s. Once the pair fall into a huge criminal conspiracy, Alfred becomes Wayne’s security in order to keep him safe from retribution.
The show is going to be a refreshing insider look into the life of Batman's iconic (equally iconic, but in a more behind-the-scenes kind of way, as Robin) right-hand man. Rarely has Alfred's history ever been looked into in television or film, but in the comics, he’s been known to be a former British SAS soldier that had served as a technician in the field. Pennyworth hits July 28 at 9 pm EST on Epix.
It seems as if a common theme lately has been to create a spinoff series off of a background character from a wildly popular existing series - such as Tracee Ellis Ross set to star as Jodie in a spinoff of MTV's Daria. Other than spinoffs, reboots have also been gaining popularity, with "The Boondocks" returning in 2020 with original creator Aaron McGruder.