Pennyworth Showrunner Talks the Explosive Season 3 Finale and "Crazier" Potential Season 4 (Exclusive)
The third season of Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler concluded on Thursday with a game-changing explosive finale — literally. Two story threads from the penultimate episode "Rag Trade" came together when, after rescuing Lucius and Bet from Level-7, Martha and Alfred left General Thursday essentially trapped inside until someone can let them in from the outside. Meanwhile, London's milk supply has been spiked with Lullaby causing most of the city to be under its influence, including Prime Minister Aziz. With Aziz under Lullaby's influence and Thursday angry about the situation with Level-7, a series of phone calls between the men result in Thursday making the decision to bomb 10 Downing Street. The episode ends with most of the series' major characters having escaped the city but witnessing the blast from afar. Now, series showrunner Bruno Heller tells ComicBook.com that there's no ambiguity in what that blast means — and it opens the door for "all sorts of shenanigans" should Pennyworth get a fourth season.
"It definitely is the Prime Minister who's got his, or rather, he was the target and not the entire city of London," Heller told us. "There's enough of the city left to rebuild in Season 4. And, as you know, nuclear bombs at least in the comic books lead to all sorts of shenanigans. Strange developments."
"It would have to be slightly more bonkers," Heller added about where Season 4 could go after the blast. "We've got to keep up that arc. It's leading to a world in which people like Batman and the Joker exist so it was always the intention to kind of keep upping the ante on the craziness of this world as long as it keeps a grounding in real life, which is where Jack Bannon and Alfred come in, because he's such a regular person The world will get stranger and crazier as it goes on."
And while Alfred is very much the grounding for the world of Pennyworth, his journey also got a little more bonkers in Season 3. It's his impromptu wedding to Sandra that is interrupted by the bomb blast over London and while the season ends with him married, Heller says there's more to explore.
"Alfred's journey is a tricky one, because we know where he ends up and it isn't happily married with a family," Heller said. "So, on one level, the audience is ahead of Alfred in this. He desperately wants to do the right thing and be a decent human being and lead a normal life. But he's kind of cursed by that early life of action and adventure as a lot of soldiers are. Ordinary, routine life seems ordinary and routine. But he's a moral person and he's a man of honor and he's doing what he thinks is right. He does indeed love Sandra very much, but is that going to make him a good parent and husband? We'll see."
The complete third season of Pennyworth is now streaming on HBO Max.