There aren’t any Froaderick Fronkensteens running around Victorian London in Showtime’s upcoming gothic horror drama Penny Dreadful, but there is definitely a guy named Frankenstein, and he’d like to have a heart to heart with viewers on why they should be tuning into the show’s premiere. You’d have to be a total monster not to. And Victor isn’t the only iconic horror character making appearances. If you’re more into vampire lore, you’ll love Mina Harker and whatever other characters from Dracula that will appear. Or perhaps it’s not vampires you like, but blood itself, which should make looking at all these posters a little easier.
The next one features the messy-faced immigrant Brona Croft (Billie Piper) and the other is a shot of the shirtlessly hypnotizing Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), a man who doesn’t seem to mind leaving open wounds unattended. Snakes aren’t exactly the first thing that spring to mind when I think of Dorian Gray, but it’s a striking enough image.
Next up is the charming American Ethan Chandler and the mysterious clairvoyant Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), whose wardrobe I wouldn’t mind owning, despite the fact that none of it was made with my gender in mind.
As far as how these characters all fit together within the first season’s eight episodes, we’re clueless. The character descriptions on Showtime’s website are informative, but in the vague way more commonly seen on the back of a trading card. For instance, Ethan’s eyes hide dark secrets, and he is “running from something, and his troubling past threatens to overtake him at every turn,” while Dorian “has a devil-may-care attitude that borders on dangerous,” and he is unnaturally drawn to risks. This is some real knuckle-biting shit, right? It’s a good thing the trailers are dripping with atmosphere and oddball imagery.
Created by Skyfall writer John Logan and produced by Sam Mendes, Penny Dreadful also stars Timothy Dalton as Sir Malcolm, an African explorer “on a deeply personal quest” and Danny Sapani as Sir Malcolm’s sentry Sembene, whose facial scar is wicked enough to earn its own desktop background. Find these characters and more for Penny Dreadful's first episode, premiering on Sunday, May 11. Feast upon the over-stimulating trailer below.
