San Diego Comic-Con 2019 took place Wednesday, July 17 through Sunday, July 21. As you may or may not know, not all of the fun takes place inside the convention center. On the contrary, a good bit of fun takes place at “offsites” or “activations” throughout downtown San Diego. One such offsite I was excited about was for Pennyworth.
Pennyworth is a new show from the EPIX network that will premiere on July 28, 2019 which focuses on Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth, when he was younger in 1960s London. The Pennyworth offsite was located at the Pendry Hotel, just a few short blocks away from the convention center. I had read about the offsite ahead of time, and it sounded pretty cool, so it was one offsite that I knew I wanted to check out.
On Thursday, after we got out of the Terminator: Dark Fate panel and grabbed some lunch from a lunch cart along the marina, we didn’t have anything specifically planned, other than checking out offsites. I did a quick Twitter search and discovered that the Pennyworth offsite seemed to have a pretty short line. So we headed over there and sure enough, the line was not that long. Along the way, we were handed a postcard advertising for the offsite, probably because they were trying to get more people over there. We only ended up waiting about 20 minutes or so.
While waiting, we were told to download the EPIX app, as it would be important inside. I had also read that you would need a password, but wasn’t able to figure out what it was. It had sounded like you would need it just to get in, but no password was required, they just let you in. Not sure if there was some sort of secret element to the experience that the password would unlock.
They let us in about 10 or so at a time. Upon entering, we went down some stairs and into a lounge. There were a couple of photo op areas, including a bar, as well as a neon sign. There was an empty stage, which apparently later, according to our friend @CorgiKohmader, had a lounge singer and dancers. Additionally, there was a blackjack table where we played a couple hands of blackjack.
In the next room was what looked like a library, as well as a dining room area, and some couches where a well-dressed man was sitting and writing. A woman standing at a spinning wheel asked me if I would like a postcard, then she proceeded to use the spinning wheel to stamp a raven onto the postcard. She told me that I could write a postcard and mail it from there! Behind the bookshelf was a hidden room with a bed, which I recognized from when I watched the Pennyworth pilot on Preview Night.
In the next room was an office with desks and typewriters. This was where we could show the attendant that we had downloaded the EPIX app. In exchange, we were given a Raven Society pin.
Finally, we headed down a hallway to the last room. On the right side of the hallway was a large screen playing a preview for Pennyworth, while on the left side was a message: “Long Live the Raven Society.”
The final room was a torture chair photo op. The interrogator asked questions of those who chose to sit in the chair. When it was my turn, he said, “Someone with blue frame glasses like this must know something! Where is Thomas Wayne?!” I replied, “He’s with Pennyworth!” The interrogator exclaimed, “With Pennyworth?! How would you know that??” I answered, “Oh, I saw it on some show…” Then the interrogator said, “This one’s a liar!” and shooed me away to see if I liked my photo, which I then emailed to myself.
That about wrapped up the Pennyworth experience! On the way out, just to keep up the 1960s London appearance, was a red telephone booth. Then we went back up the stairs and that was it! Overall, it was a pretty fun experience, and well worth the relatively short amount of time we stood in line. The actors were very much in character, even down to the line staff. Plus you get some swag, so that’s always cool!
After we finished up at Pennyworth, we decided to go check out the Amazon Prime Video experience. Click here for our recap and photos of our experience there! Also stay tuned for more of our coverage of SDCC 2019!
