The ViacomCBS-owned premium cable network has axed Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, the so-called “spiritual descendant” of creator John Logan’s original three-season story.
From Logan and Michael Aguilar (Kidding), the new chapter starred Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) and was set in 1930s L.A. and was infused with Mexican-American folklore. Rooted in the conflict between characters connected to the deity Santa Muerte and others allied with the devil, City of Angels featured all new characters and storylines.
“Showtime has decided not to move forward with another season of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels. We would like to thank executive producers John Logan, Michael Aguilar and the entire cast and crew for their outstanding work on this project,” the cabler said in a statement Friday.
Logan, for his part, previously told The Hollywood Reporter that he already had an idea for a second season of City of Angels. “I have a plan in place for next season; I hope it goes on endlessly. There’s so much history that I am excited to keep exploring,” he said ahead of the show’s return in April.
Logan and Showtime launched Penny Dreadful in 2014. The first incarnation of the series featured famous characters, including Frankenstein’s monster, Dorian Gray and figures from the Dracula novel.The morning after the third-season finale, which featured the surprising death of Eva Green’s Vanessa Ives, Showtime and Logan announced that they had decided midway through its sophomore run that the show would wrap with its third season.
“John has decided the show really, at its core, has always been Vanessa Ives. John has said three seasons is enough, and I think it’s really interesting that we live in this world where every show can have its own rhythm and create its own destiny,” then-Showtime president David Nevins told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “This is a case of your creator says this is the best thing for the show and eventually you just say OK, do it, just do it well.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter