1960s-set Pennyworth series will find Batman's loyal butler fighting descendants of Jack the Ripper

What did Alfred Pennyworth do before he came into the employ of the Wayne family as a loyal and trustworthy butler? He was kicking villainous asses on the mean streets of '60s-Britain, of course! In the era before Batman, the unassuming servant was fighting injustice an ocean away.

We'll get to see that play out in vivid detail, courtesy of the upcoming Pennyworth prequel series on Epix this coming summer, according to executive producer Danny Canon, who also produces Fox's Gotham. 

“It’s twenty-something years before Gotham, it’s a very different world,” Cannon told Deadline at the TCA winter tour. “It’s not the England we know. It looks and feels like, but if you look a little closer, [you ask], ‘Why is that like that? Why is that building there? What war is he talking about?' ”

And just who will Alfred (played by Jack Bannon) be fighting in the grooviest decade of them all? It seems Canon & Co. will take the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen route and draw from very iconic wells in terms of its rogues' gallery. 

 “[The show will feature] archetypal villains and classic villains of British literature; they’re all available to us," the producer continued. "Jack the Ripper was 1880s, but he has descendants."

Pennyworth premieres on Epix sometime in June. If you think about it, this show really has the potential to play out like a comic book version of James Bond, something we're totally down for.

For our full coverage of the TCA 2019 winter tour, click here.