Many TV viewers are counting the days for the return of “Game of Thrones” or “Mad Men.” Those are fine programs that I'll certainly enjoy every week, but the series I'm dying to return to television? “Penny Dreadful.”
John Logan's Victorian Era creation shocked me with a set of kick off episodes directed by J.A. Bayona (“The Impossible,” the upcoming “A Monster Calls”) which were simply two of the most cinematic hours of television I've ever seen (Fienberg and Sepinwall would no doubt quarrel with me on this, but…). And while the directors of episodes 3-8 weren't exactly as visionary (James Hawes was the best of the rest) it was some impressive writing and the incredible performances of Eva Green (robbed of Golden Globe and SAG nominations), Harry Treadaway, Rory Kinnear, Timothy Dalton and Josh Hartnett that sucked me in ( and, yes, it's easily the best thing Hartnett has ever done.) It also didn't hurt that the show already has one of my all-time favorite title themes by Abel Korzeniowski and haunting music like this. (Will someone besides Madonna please hire this man to compose for the big screen?)
I became such a big fan of the show “Dreadful” was the only panel I had to attend at Comic-Con this past summer and it ended up being there with Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. massive slam dunks (even without Green on hand).
Happily, we are now just a little over two months away from the premiere of Season 2. These 10 new episodes promise Helen McCrory's Madame Kali front and center as the main villain, Patti LuPone appearing in a mysterious role, a potential “Bride” for Frankenstein's Monster (Kinnear) and a very ominous warning from our cursed heroine, Vanessa Ives:
“When Lucifer fell. He did not fall alone.”
Does that refer to Madame Kali or someone else? We'll find out soon, but in the meantime Showtime has provided HitFix with two exclusive character posters you can find embedded in this post.
The first is of Sir Malcolm (Dalton) and he appears quite distraught. Considering he effectively lost the daughter he thought was being held against her will by a demon at the end of last season we can't imagine what other tragedies have befallen him this season.
The second is of Dalton's longtime friend and mysterious ally Sembene (Danny Sapani). Not much has been revealed about Sembene so far, but Logan has teased his importance becomes more clear in season 2.
Also, if for some reason you actually haven cause the season 2 trailer you can also watch it embedded in this post. And, wait, there's more. If you've become a “Dreadful” over the past year and haven't seen my extended video interview with Hartnett, Treadaway and Reeve Carney from Comic-Con you can watch that embedded at the top of this post.
“Penny Dreadful” season two premieres on May 3. Can you tell we're excited?