Casting on Epix’s upcoming Batman prequel series Pennyworth continues, with Deadline reporting that Jason Flemyng (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, X-Men: First Class) has signed on to portray a villain called Lord Hardwood who is described as an “”upper-class Englishman; he’s cultured, urbane, brilliant and supremely sure of himself. His sadistic, cruel nature has a veneer of charm.”
Pennyworth has been developed by Gotham’s Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon and will see Jack Bannon (The Imitation Game) in the title role as the young Alfred Pennyworth alongside Ben Aldridge (Fleabag) as Thomas Wayne and Ryan Fletcher (Outlander) and Hainsley Lloyd Bennett (Casualty) as Alfred’s military buddies Dave Boy and Bazza. British singer Paloma Faith was also recently announced as the main antagonist, Bet Sykes.
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The series will see Alfred, Thomas and two of Alfred’s closest friends, Trinidadian Marcus “Bazza” Barrington and Scotsman Wallace “Dave Boy” MacDuff, take on the villainous Raven Society. Led by the mysterious Lord Hardwood and his sadistic henchwoman, Bet Sykes, the Raven Society will find themselves in what sounds like a season long game of cat-and-mouse with our heroes after Sykes abducts a dancer by the name of Esme Whitaker. The heroes will battle Hardwood and the corrupt London police force in an effort to rescue Whitaker and will have to come to trust one another to do so, setting the table for one of comics’ greatest relationships.
Pennyworth has a ten-episode order from Epix, and filming is underway now in the UK ahead of a 2019 premiere.