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Showtime’s Penny Dreadful will focus on a new, human villain in its sophomore season.
Showrunner John Logan told fans Thursday night at Comic-Con that his Showtime monster drama will focus on a human antagonist in its upcoming second season. Helen McCrory‘s Madame Kali, who guest starred in episodes two and eight, will take center stage on the series, Logan told fans in a nearly full Ballroom 20.
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“Her supernatural world becomes the threat to all the gentlemen sitting on the stage with me,” he said, eluding to Reeve Carney‘s Dorian Gray, Harry Treadaway‘s Dr. Frankenstein and Josh Hartnett‘s Ethan Chandler. Comic-Con attendees were treated to unused footage from season one that featured McCrory in a scene that hinted at the story line
The eloquent Logan noted that while season one focused on building the show’s central family, season two will see everyone thrown into a much more supernatural world. “Next season is very different. Having spent 10 years building this world in my mind, I talk about the first three seasons of what the story is,” he said. “What excites me about season two is … it gets much larger.”
Beyond the focus on Kali, Logan hopes to someday introduce Dr. Moreau and visit the Island of Lost Souls on the series.
As for what Ethan is running from in America, Logan remained largely tight-lipped but said he’s looking forward to exploring the character’s backstory, including how he became a werewolf and his relationship with his father. That could make its way into season two — or beyond — with Ethan’s father, Jared, also introduced at some point.
“He was a monstrous man who treated his son brutally. Something happened in Ethan’s life that became this curse/blessing. But in the larger theology/cosmology, there’s other elements to it, which we’ll explore in season two.”
Logan started the panel by thanking fans for their dedication after he’d only previously attended Comic-Con as a fan. “It’s pretty emotional to be sitting on this side,” the first-time showrunner said in his opening remarks.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
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