Showtime and Sky Atlantic’s Gothic marvel Penny Dreadful has been cancelled by its creator and the channels after three seasons.
The Guardian reports that writer John Logan stated that “I created Penny Dreadful to tell the story of a woman grappling with her faith, and with the demons inside her. For me the character of Vanessa Ives is the heart of this series.
“From the beginning, I imagined her story would unfold over a three-season arc … To have had fans that have embraced us so passionately has been one of the most gratifying experiences of my career.”
Eva Green starred as Vanessa Ives, the focal point of the series and a woman tormented by the forces of darkness. Together with Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) and Sembene (Danny Sapani), she ventured into the night. These characters confronted the darkness within themselves as much as they took on monsters, and characters like Rory Kinnear’s Creature, Billie Piper’s Lily and Reeve Carney’s Dorian Grey were compelling new twists on well-known characters.
For our money, Kinnear gave one of the best takes on Frankenstein’s Creature that we’ve ever seen, with an intelligent and heartbreaking performance, but the whole cast was outstanding, always anchored by the incredible Green, who did some of her very best work on the show. Excellent villainy was offered by Helen McCrory as the head of a London coven, Brian Cox as Ethan’s brutal father Jared Talbot, and Christian Carmago as the mysterious and charming Dr Alexander Sweet.
The writing was superb, particularly as the show entered its second season, and it was always beautifully made. The production design, the costumes, the make-up and the direction created a fantastically atmospheric series that was as alluring as it was disturbing. This was truly excellent Gothic horror and we’ll be very sad to see it go.
Still, UK fans have got another episode left to go, tomorrow night at 10pm on Sky Atlantic, so we’ll all just have to avoid spoilers until then.
Penny Dreadful concludes on Tuesday night at 10pm on Sky Atlantic. Keep up with the latest genre news with the new issue of SciFiNow.
