Penny Dreadful follow-up series ordered by Showtime

The Showtime series Penny Dreadful is getting a spin-off sequel series called City of Angels.

Cancelled back in 2016, Penny Dreadful was an Emmy nominated dark horror-fantasy series starring Eva Green and Josh Hartnet that was beautiful and surreal like a fairy-tale gone bad. The title referred to cheap serial novellas that were lurid in nature, penny dreadfuls, named as such because they only costed a penny and always told a dreadful story. The series was inspired by 19th-century British and Irish Gothic fiction and included popular characters of those times, including Dorian Gray, characters from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, both Victor Frankenstein and his monster, and Dr. Henry Jekyll.

The series finale ended on a rather depressing note in regard to its lead character, Vanessa Ives, but at least they stopped Dracula and his darkness from spreading. It received critical acclaim during its run but the network decided not to move forward without showrunner John Logan who left after the end of season three, thus ending the series.

Now, Penny Dreadful is returning in a spiritual descendant titled Penny Dreadful: City of Angels set in 1938 Los Angeles. John Logan, creator, writer and executive producer of the original series is returning to work his magic once more. Michael Aguilar is joining as an executive producer alongside Logan’s own Desert Wolf Production company and Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris of Neal Street Productions.

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The next chapter of the supernatural series is place deeply within Mexican-American folklore and the social tension of that period. This isn’t surprising given how popular Mexican folklore has become in American culture, especially The Day of the Dead. Reportedly there will be characters connected to the deity Santa Muerte and others allied with the Devil, as it was in Penny Dreadful.

The series will be a mix of supernatural and the overwrought reality of the 1930s, creating new occult myths and moral dilemmas within a genuine historical backdrop.

In a statement made by John Logan, he announced.

"“Penny Dreadful: City of Angels will have a social consciousness and historical awareness that we chose not to explore in the Penny Dreadful London storylines,” Logan said. “We will now be grappling with specific historical and real world political, religious, social and racial issues. In 1938, Los Angeles was facing some hard questions about its future and its soul. Our characters must do the same. There are no easy answers. There are only powerful questions and arresting moral challenges. As always in the world of Penny Dreadful, there are no heroes or villains in this world, only protagonists and antagonists; complicated and conflicted characters living on the fulcrum of moral choice.”"

The cast has yet to be announced and it’s seems unlikely that any of the original characters will return. Let’s not rule out any possible cameos though, crossovers are becoming increasingly popular. If you haven’t yet, watch Penny Dreadful now before City of Angels comes out. Its only three seasons long, 27 episodes and it can be streamed on Netflix or on Showtime directly.

Production for Penny Dreadful: City of Angels is expected to begin in 2019.