Season 2

The second season of Pennyworth was confirmed by Epix on October 30, 2019, following positive reviews from critics amid the season one finale. Filming for the ten-episode season began on January 2020, with a proposed air date of late 2020, but was halted in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming resumed in August and concluded in 14 November, 2020.^[1]. At NYCC Metaverse, Pennyworth was announced to return on December 13, 2020 with the first four episodes of Season 2 dropping weekly before a mid-season finale on Jan. 3, 2021. The remaining six episodes aired beginning on March 7,2021 til April 11, 2021.^[2]^[3]

Premise[]

A year after the explosive events of last season, England finds itself embroiled in a devastating civil war, with the powerful, neo-fascist Raven Union, led by Lord Harwood threatening to control the entire country. North London remains one of the few resistance holdouts remaining. It’s here in the West End Neutral Zone, that we find Alfred Pennyworth. After years in the British Army, his training with the SAS has taught him to be a cynical optimist – expecting the worst, but knowing that he can handle it. Now running The Delaney, a black-market Soho club that welcomes everyone, regardless of their politics, Alfred, with his SAS mates, Deon “Bazza” Bashford and Wallace “Daveboy” MacDougal, is now in search of a way out – before London, and his country, burns itself to the ground. And he’s got his eye on America.

Characters[]

Main cast[]

Jack Bannon as Alfred Pennyworth
Ben Aldridge as Thomas Wayne
Emma Paetz as Martha Kane
Hainsley Lloyd Bennett as Bazza (Credited as main from episodes 1-3 & 8)
Ryan Fletcher as Dave Boy
Dorothy Atkinson as Mary Pennyworth
Ian Puleston-Davies as Arthur Pennyworth (Credited as main in ep. 1,3,8,9 & 10)
Polly Walker as Peggy Sykes (Credited as main in episodes 4, 7-10)^[4]
Ramon Tikaram as Inspector Victor Aziz
Edward Hogg as Colonel John Salt
Harriet Slater as Sandra Onslow
Jessye Romeo as Katie Browning
Paloma Faith as Bet Sykes
Jason Flemyng as Lord James Harwood (Credited as main from episodes 1-7)

Special Guest Star[]

James Purefoy as Captain Gulliver Troy

Recurring cast[]

Simon Day as Sid Onslow
Anna Chancellor as Frances Gaunt (Credited as Special Guest Star in episode 9)
Danny Webb as John Ripper
Jonjo O'Neill as Aleister Crowley
Dermot Crowley as Archbishop Potter
Salóme R. Gunnarsdóttir as Patricia Wayne
Jessica de Gouw as Melanie Troy^[5]
Simon Manyonda as Lucius Fox^[5]

Co-Starring[]

Jessica Ellerby as The Queen
Gretchen Egolf as Dallas
Tristram Wymark as General Nelson Thursday
Lee McQueen as Vic Dobson
Rosa Coduri as Sheri

Summary[]

Episode List[]

Season 2
#	Episode	Summary	Airdate	Written By	Directed By
2X01	The Heavy Crown	Alfred Pennyworth tries to profit off a war-torn London that threatens to be overrun by the fascist Raven Union.	December 13, 2020	Bruno Heller	Danny Cannon
2X02	The Burning Bridge	Alfred’s plans for his departure to America are put on hold when someone close to him is put in danger. Thomas enlists the help of an old foe, Aleister Crowley.	December 20, 2020	Bruno Heller	Danny Cannon
2X03	The Belt and Welt	Alfred, Bazza and Dave Boy try to uncover who had the nerve to steal from them, while Crowley enacts his plan with unintended results.	December 27, 2020	Jimmy Dowdall	Rob Bailey
2X04	The Hunted Fox	Still haunted by tragedy, Alfred agrees to join Gully's team on an upcoming job. Meanwhile, pressure begins to take its toll on Harwood and directs him toward Project Stormcloud.	December 27, 2020	Seth Sinclair	Rob Bailey
2X05	The Bleeding Heart	While Alfred and Dave Boy run one last job for Gully in order to buy tickets to America, tensions ratchet up at Raven Union HQ between Harwood and his lieutenants.	March 7, 2021	Hannah Boschi	Jon East
2X06	The Rose and Thorn	While Alfred is enlisted to help extract Lucius Fox from Raven headquarters, Prime Minister Aziz sets in motion a plan that pits Aleister Crowley against John Ripper.	March 14, 2021	Bruno Heller	Jon East
2X07	The Bloody Mary	While Alfred prepares to depart England for good, Bet and Peggy Sykes set out to rescue their old friend Lord Harwood from imminent danger.	March 21, 2021	Jimmy Dowdall	Catherine Morshead
2X08	The Hangman's Noose	While Salt sits down with the League to discuss peace, Alfred confronts Gully to do the same. And Martha finally comes clean to Thomas about her dilemma.	March 28, 2021	Seth Sinclair	Danny Cannon
2X09	Paradise Lost	With less than 48 hours, Alfred, Thomas & Martha concoct a plan to infiltrate Raven headquarters with Dave Boy and Lucius to steal Project Stormcloud.	April 4, 2021	Hannah Boschi	Danny Cannon
2X10	The Lion and Lamb	In the season two finale, Salt is hell bent on releasing Project Stormcloud upon London… Unless Alfred and his mates can stop it.	April 11, 2021	Bruno Heller	Danny Cannon

Trivia[]

The second season was confirmed on October 27, 2019, to begin filming in January 2020, however filming was paused in March 2020 due to COVID-19.^[6]
Martha Kane is pregnant, however the father is unknown.^[2]
Thomas Wayne starts the season engaged to someone else, but this engagement apparently doesn’t last long because the character is more of a throwaway character.^[2]
Season 2 takes place a year after Season 1, and London is in the throes of a civil war.^[2]
Heller revealed that since,“Lord Harwood escaped from the Tower of London and pulled off a coup, England is now at war essentially. It’s much more good guys versus bad guys — it’s very clear who the good guys are now and they are under siege in London”.^[2]
As for Alfred, he starts the season looking to start anew in America, though it’s clear this dream doesn’t come to pass.^[2]
During DC Fandome, it was revealed that Lucius Fox will be introduced this season,but when we first meet him, he's working for the bad guys.^[2]
Heller also hinted that there will be a larger villain than Lord Harwood in the upcoming episodes,though who that is remains to be seen.^[2]
On October 26, 2020, through the Writers Guild of America West website, it was revealed that Bruno Heller is credited for writing the first two episodes of the new season. ^[7]
On November 10, 2020, an official poster and trailer for Season 2 were officially unveiled.^[8]
On December 2, 2020, Paloma Faith announced she was pregnant with her second child, but that she won't be going on a maternity break. Thus, her pregnancy will not interfere with her six month work on Pennyworth.^[9]
On December 9, 2020, Heller teased that this season will feature a pregnant Martha.^[10]
On December 12, 2020, Paloma Faith talked to TV Fanatic where she revealed several caveats of information for season 2.^[11]
- Paloma revealed that viewers will get to see a softer side to Bet in Season 2.^[11]
- Unfortunately, she will have even less scenes with Jack in Season 2.^[11]
- Expect more easter eggs regarding the history of British culture.^[11]
- There are a few Batman characters that come into Season 2 also.^[11]
- Paloma teased that viewers will start to see how the relationships are made with the people that ended up being around Batman in present day.^[11]
- Due to filming during a global pandemic, Paloma confirmed that afterward they had very strict protocols in place where they were all tested several times a week.^[11]
- They also had to fill in a form every day and test their temperature every day to get on to the production lot.^[11]
- The cast also have to wear masks right up until shooting. So even while they are rehearsing, they do so in masks. It's only until they were on camera shooting that was the only time they took them off.^[11]
- As soon as they say cut, they would put the masks back on again. This was done as way of everyone trying to reduce the amount of exposure they might have if there was anyone on set with the virus.^[11]
- The crew were socially distanced from the cast,the cast weren't allowed to go near them, and they all had to wear masks, and weren't allowed to eat together.^[11]
On December 15, 2020, Ben Aldridge and Emma Paetz gave an interview after the Season 2 premiere where they revealed several caveats of information.^[12]
- Bruno, the series showrunner explained to Paetz that historicaly, the swinging 60's in London only applied to a couple of hundred people at the time. A lot of it was a homogenous society and kind of bleak.^[12]
- This correlates with the feel of Season 2, for the cast and crew, because it's incredibly bleak due to the full out civil wart that has broken out in the one year time skip.^[12]
- Paetz added that she "liked that in some ways, it's a celebration of it [the swinging 60's] and what sort of feelings stem from that time. But it's not just a completely romanticised version of it, which would be easy to do, but that's not what's been done in the series during its second season.^[12]
- Aldridge for his part went onto say that he loves all the mid-century sets, the furniture seen on the show and of course the clothes they get to wear.^[12]
- Paetz and Aldridge also talked about how Pennyworth has slowly been foreshadowing Bruce Wayne's character traits that will lead him to become Batman, through showing how his parents Thomas and Martha have passed down those same qualities to him.^[12]
- Aldridge states that,"definitely for Thomas, it was his detective, sleuth, forensics vibe. The intelligence, spy kind of vibe that he was passing on to him [Bruce]". But that also, both of them possess a strong moral compass for justice, even though they at time waver on that.^[12]
- When comparing Martha to her future son, Paetz says that something she's been thinking about recently with Martha that is similar to the vigilante mentality is the solace she finds in warfare when it really kicks off in Season 2. How much she enjoys her place in that, she says that it gives her purpose, it kind of simplifies her life, it sort of gives her peace.^[12]
On December 17, 2020, in an interview with EW, Heller mentioned that while he hasn't read every Batman story, from his point of view, it seems Thomas usually is featured far more than Martha does — because he thinks, Batman is a sort of patriarchal myth as far as that goes. But he continues by saying that a mother is the real wellspring of character. So it was important for him that Martha be very powerful — if not more powerful than Thomas, then certainly more impulsive, more headstrong, more vengeful. She's the vigilante side of Batman's character, and Thomas is the analytical, sort of detective side."^[13]
- Bruno Heller also mentions how when it came to the development of the Thomas and Martha relationship, that "it would be kind of boring if they met and fell in love and were immediately the perfect couple". Thus, he "thought it'd be fun to take that internal conflict that is inside Batman and play it out between his parents. Exactly the sort of struggles that Batman has with himself are the same struggles that they have with each other."^[13]
On December 19,2020, Emma Paetz revealed in an interview with TV Line several pieces of information, while teasing what is to come for her character in Season 2 and beyond.^[14]
- Canonically, there is not much known about Martha Kane. Thus, Paetz felt that because Martha has just really in the Batman universe placed as “his mother”, this gave her a lot more room to play and maneuver with her character. In addition, she believes that there's a lot of freedom with her character and Thomas to an extent, because there isn’t that much known about them personally.^[14]
- Paetz also really relished playing Martha as the modern woman that she is in the 1960s. Also, she’s a modern American woman, which has a very differently stratified society compared to the UK, where she is in this series. The juxtaposition of that, and comparing her to the sort of women Thomas runs into in the circles he’s in…. It has been fun for Martha to play against that expectation.^[14]
- One of the cool things she got to do in Season 2 was more action scenes. Paetz mentioned how prior to shooting for season 2 she had to do some gun training.^[14]
- When asked if she would share any scenes with Paloma Faith, all she said, was to wait and see.^[14]
- As for any new friends Martha has made this season, Paetz revealed that throughout the season viewers see her get a lot closer to Aziz, and that was something she really enjoyed. Talking about it further, Paetz admitted to finding it was really unexpected, actually, but like how they’ve got quite a lovely relationship, and it’s nice to see Martha interact with someone she genuinely admires and looks up to, and who doesn’t have some level of disdain for her, which is very rare for her to encounter in a person!^[14]
- Someone else that Martha has unexpectedly got on with is [Thomas’ sister] Patricia Wayne. Paetz teased that the two women have a united thing with their “knocking Thomas off of his pedestal,” and viewers get to see more of them doing that.^[14]
- Lastly, Paetz mentioned that in the back half of Season 2, viewers can expect Martha to be involved in some fights that involve nudity. But that the nudity is not necessarily from her!^[14]
On December 23,2020, Jack Bannon in an interview with Culturess, mentioned how due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, they only recently finished filming Season 2. ^[15]
Unlike Season 1, certain series regulars are only credited in the opening sequence in the episodes they appear in.
- Ian Puleston-Davies is only credited in the main cast in The Heavy Crown and The Belt and Welt.
- Polly Walker who plays Peggy Sykes is thus far only credited for her appearance in The Hunted Fox.
- Hainsley Lloyd Bennett's character dies at the end of The Belt and Welt and presumably will only be credited for the three episodes, out of ten he has appeared in.
On February 22, 2021, Polly Walker was asked why it is she often plays tough women, and she answered that she is simply not interested in playing wallflowers because they’re boring. Thus, she believes that she's able to play strong, controversial women quite easily and definitely enjoys playing an alpha female. All because at the end of the day, she just hopes she is strong herself.^[16]
On March 12,2021, Simon Manyonda said in an interview that he would love to work with one specific character he'd love to see Fox encounter is Cyborg; specifically, the version featured in the HBO Max series Doom Patrol.^[17]
Unlike in her previous appearances, Anna Chancellor as Frances Gaunt was credited as Special Guest Star in Paradise Lost, the ninth episode of this season.
- This is different compared to being given a guest star credit in her previous appearances.
On April 11,2021, while Season 3 is not yet confirmed, Heller said they did have stories that could get them to at leats five seasons. Especially when they take into account that they are setting up a potential Batman Origin story with their Pennyworth Series.^[18]
On May 3, 2021, reports surfaced that negotiations between Epix and Pennyworth producer Warner Bros. TV are still ongoing, and they involve hammering out a deal for the existing two seasons of the show, which premiered on Epix, to also be available on HBO Max. If an agreement is reached, and there is a Season 3 pickup, Epix would get a second window for airing potential Season 3 episodes.^[19]