Showtime’s upcoming Penny Dreadful: City of Angels is ramping up its casting as days after news broke that Natalie Dormer has joined the series, it has been announced that multiple Tony Award-winning actor Nathan Lane will also take on a major role. A spinoff of the London-set Victorian-era horror series, City of Angels takes place in 1938 Los Angeles, turning the series into what sounds like a noir murder mystery infused with elements of horror and Mexican folklore. Throw in the threat of the Third Reich and “radio evangelism” and this new series sounds as if it will have no problem at all distinguishing itself from the original Penny Dreadful that ended in 2016.
Whether or not the two series will share any characters or storylines remains to be seen, however, but with John Logan, the creator of the original series on board to write and produce, along with executive producer Michael Aguilar (Kidding), it seems like anything is possible. But before that happens, City of Angels will likely want to establish its own mythos and world through characters like Detective Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto), and his siblings Josefina (Jessica Garza) and Mateo (Johnathan Nieves). And, of course, there’s the presence of Dormer’s demon character, Magda.
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In a recent release from Showtime, Lane will play the role of veteran LAPD officer Lewis Michener, who is described as being “wise to the ways of the world and ruthless in pursuit of his goals.” That sounds slightly ominous and it certainly leaves room for Lewis to have some shades of grey in his characterization, which will make his function as “the partner and mentor of young Tiago Vega” all the more interesting. It also raises the question of whether or not Lewis will be to Vega what Timothy Dalton’s Sir Malcolm Murray was to Josh Hartnett’s lycanthropic Ethan Chandler.
That will obviously remain to be seen, as the series is set to begin production sometime this year, meaning viewers will likely have to wait until 2020 to see the supernatural world of City of Angels come to life. Still, the show is shaping up to be an exciting addition to Showtime’s lineup, offering a welcome genre infusion to the likes of Billions, Black Monday, Kidding, the soon-to-be-ending Homeland, and the upcoming City on a Hill. In addition to the upcoming Halo series from Kyle Killen, it seems like Showtime is ready to take some big swings at capturing the attention of TV viewers deluged with more shows than they can possibly watch.
It’s likely that there’ll be more casting announcements made for Penny Dreadful: City of Angels as the series gets closer to the start of production. So far, it’s amassed an compelling cast and it will be interesting to see who else joins the fray.
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Penny Dreadful: City of Angels begins production later in 2019.
