Warning: spoilers Pennyworth Season 3Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler Season three just concluded this week on HBO Max, leaving viewers immersed in a chaotic yet festive atmosphere. The notorious future butler Alfred (Jack Bannon), who is married to his on-again, off-again girlfriend Sandra, must not only save PWE (enhanced humans) from experiments, but also free all of London. Suffering from a drug-induced mental health crisis, though a surprise airstrike threatens to invalidate previous celebrations. Meanwhile, Martha (Emma Petsch) and Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge) manage to repair their rocky marriage after a season of lies and half-truths. Starting over as a family.
Pennyworth Season three went through a few changes after its move to HBO Max, including a name change and a five-year time jump. The latter is the most important, as it gives Martha and Thomas a daughter to care for and adds tension to the dangerous situations they often find themselves in. And “Highland Wedding” may have given them a moment of respite before the tension escalates. Once again, viewers know that when the show returns, the madness will return. While the Wayne family can take care of their own business with Alfie by their side, DC Comics fans are still patiently waiting for Bruce’s eventual arrival.
screen roar Talked to Petz about how the Wayne family has changed with the introduction of their daughter Sam Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler Season 3, which scene was the hardest for her to film, and what she hopes to see in Martha’s future.
Emma Paetz breaks down ‘Pennyworth’ season 3
Screen Rant: How different the experience was from the time jump to the move to HBO Max, not to mention the title change Pennyworth Is Season 3 right for you?
Emma Petts: Probably the main difference from my experience is that a lot of my scenes were shot with kids. It was just a whole new energy, and I knew it was going to be like that, but I thought it was really fun. Pennyworth isn’t really a children’s show [laughs]so there must be Jada [Eyles, who plays Sam] The middle is really good. Season three was a really fun time to inject new energy, so that was the biggest difference for me.
How does Martha balance her family life with her life as a spy, which really comes to a head in the final episodes when her children are kidnapped? How do you divide things on set?
Emma Paetz: When Jada was on set, she was really hilarious. Ben Aldridge, who plays Thomas, is great with kids. They had a lot of fun together, so things just happened naturally. She is a natural addition to the Wayne family.
Martha is, for the most part, very good at compartmentalizing. I think that’s why she was able to lie to Thomas and convince herself that it wasn’t really a lie, or that it wasn’t that bad of a thing. When Martha is doing something, she’s very focused, although in season three all the family stuff does start to creep into it. But I think she’s pretty good at keeping those things separate in her mind until she’s caught in front of Thomas, and then she can’t separate them anymore.
Sam is an interesting addition to Pennyworth, which begs the question of whether we’ll see Bruce at all. Not to mention she’s not in the comics. Have you discussed this aspect of Martha and Thomas’ family life with the writers, or thought about where it might lead?
Emma Petts: They didn’t really fill in any gaps for us as far as Bruce not being there. I know as much as you do about this.
But Ben and I had to keep up to make sure we had a rough idea of where our relationship had led up to this point. Neither Ben nor I really like backstory, so I think it was more about getting a scene and talking about how the last five years played out and how their history was present at that particular moment.
You don’t even need that much backstory, since Martha and Thomas generally exist just to die in the comics. That being said, have you ever looked to other versions of Batman for inspiration, or have you always been focused on other versions of Batman? Pennyworth Page?
Emma Petz: I feel like she’s just not in the comics, except for Flashpoint, which is a very different story. I mean, it would be cool to do a Flashpoint Martha, but I don’t think that’s what we’re doing. Initially, I browsed a lot of comics. But like you said, she really just existed as a mother and then was killed, and the satisfaction of playing her was finding the reality of this person. Ben and I both felt like we had a lot of freedom with that because you don’t know much about them in the comics.
I was talking to Simon Mayonda about the last episode last week, and I loved that Martha took the lead in rescuing him in the finale. Can you talk about the relationship between Martha and Lucius? What’s so special about them?
Emma Paetz: Yeah, their relationship is interesting, isn’t it? I really enjoyed shooting these scenes with Simon. He’s my neighbor so I see him around all the time and it all feels natural. Simon shows up in season two and Lucius is a really great new guy who gets thrust into the middle of it all. He’s as good as Lucius and you can throw anything at him. It was a joy to see how he fought back.
One thing I didn’t expect to happen at the end of the season was Alfie getting married. What does Martha think about the long-term viability of his relationship with Sandra?
Emma Paetz: Honestly, with everything that’s going on, I don’t know how much she cares about whether this is going to work long-term. It’s nice to see rituals and ceremonies going on in the midst of something very chaotic. I don’t think Martha was too judgmental about their relationship. [Laughs] I think she’s very easy-going.
The Wayne family goes through a lot of turmoil in the finale. How did their dynamic change or evolve after the season? Where will they go in the future?
Emma Paetz: In many ways, they are the most powerful ever. I think they were actually very honest and open with each other in a way that they hadn’t been before. They may have thought they were close, and now they realize they’ve actually been keeping so much distance from each other.
I don’t know where we’ll start with them again, but I know that when we leave them this season, they’re a very solid three-man team.
Looking back on Season 3, what was the hardest thing for you to do from an emotional or physical standpoint?
Emma Petts: I was very nervous about the fight scene between Thomas and Martha. I worry that I’m not doing a good enough job. I haven’t had much opportunity to do extensive fight choreography since drama school, so I was nervous about it.
When we started training and training the stunt people, it looked very different initially. There’s a lot of wrestling in it. [Laughs] We ended up just condensing it all down, but I would say that was probably the most challenging. I found it really hard to learn the choreography, although once I knew the moves I could do them. But I’m just not good at keeping track of everything in space, and it’s actually completely different when you’re learning stunts in a room and then putting them on set.
I really trust Ben, though, so I’m not scared. I’m just worried that I’m going to screw up. Plus, Ben did a backflip! I was like, “Oh, okay. Is this what we’re bringing to the table?”
How long did the process take from starting the choreography and doing the stunts to actually filming on the day?
Emma Petts: I think we learned the choreography a week ago, but obviously it took longer for the stunt team. The stunt people had been working on it before with the production crew and director to get an idea of what it would look like. The process started before the cast even started, and then we started about a week before and had pretty much just one rehearsal. However, when the day comes, you’ll break it into small chunks so it feels manageable.
As we hopefully move into season four, what other aspects of Martha’s life would you like to learn more about?
Emma Petz: I love that Martha interacts with other women. So, whenever there’s a scene with Patricia, I really enjoy it.Sharon [R. Gunnarsdóttir]The person who plays her is great.
I’d do anything, but I’d especially love more dialogue with other female characters. She never really interacts with Bet except for very brief interactions.In those moments of our season, Paloma [Faith] I had a great time despite barely being on set together. I also like the lighter moments with Martha, where she’s kind of ridiculous and stuff like that. She’s very nervous a lot of the time, so I love it when she relaxes.
About Pennyworth: The Origins of Batman’s Butler
The DC origins series Pennyworth: The Origins of Batman’s Butler tells the story of former British SAS soldier Alfred Pennyworth (played by Jack Bannon), who was founded in 1960s London. He joins a security company and works with young billionaire Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge) and his wife Martha (Emma Petsch) as they become Bruce Wayne. Before parents. The third season of this psychological thriller begins after a five-year time jump: the Civil War is over and the Cultural Revolution has changed the world, for better or worse – ushering in a new era of superheroes and supervillains.
Check out our previous Pennyworth Also interviewed by Simon Manyonda.
All episodes Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler Season 3 is available to watch on HBO Max.