DC's Pennyworth Show Casts Its Young Alfred And Thomas Wayne

With the final season of Gotham premiering next year, the show's producers have already lined up the next Batman-related series to take its place. Pennyworth will focus on the early adventures of Batman's butler, and the show's star has now been announced.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jack Bannon will play the young Alfred. Bannon previously appeared in the award-winning The Imitation Game, as well as David Ayer's war drama Fury and the acclaimed TV show Ripper Street. He joins Ben Aldridge, who has been cast as Thomas Wayne in the show.

THR also provided a description for this new portrayal of Alfred, which sounds very different to the character played most recently by Jeremy Irons and Michael Caine on-screen. It states that Pennyworth's Alfred is "a boyishly handsome, cheerful, charming, clever young man from London. Honest, open-faced and witty, he's the kind of person people would never take for a SAS killer. Alfred doesn't know how to reconcile the kind-hearted boy he used to be with the cold, calculated killer he was forced to become. He's a man on the make, who doesn't know what to make of himself yet."

Although Pennyworth is written and produced by Gotham showrunner Bruno Heller, it is narratively unconnected to that show. It starts production in London next week and will premiere on Epix in 2019.

In related news, it has been confirmed that Gotham Season 5 will feature a number of time jumps. This final season will be based on the "No Man's Land" story from the DC comic books, and is expected to premiere in early 2019.