Showtime cancels Penny Dreadful: City of Angels

Game of Thrones veteran Natalie Dormer gave it her all as the demoness Magda, but Showtime has still opted not to renew Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.

Rest in peace. The Hollywood Reporter has it that Showtime has cancelled Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, the spiritual descendent of the original Penny Dreadful.

“Showtime has decided not to move forward with another season of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” the network said in a statement. “We would like to thank executive producers John Logan, Michael Aguilar and the entire cast and crew for their outstanding work on this project.”

This maybe isn’t the most shocking news. With the coronavirus pandemic forcing networks and streaming services to take a hard look at what they’re doing, only shows likely to bring in a lot of audience are likely to keep going, and Penny Dreadful: City of Angels never quite caught on.

It might be for the best. The first season of the show was entertaining and had a mix of interesting ideas, but it was also very messy, and creator John Logan sometimes seemed out of his element.

The first Penny Dreadful drew on English literature and saw the Wolfman meeting up with Dracula palling around with Frankenstein mixing it up with Dorian Gray. It took itself seriously, but it was also broad and fun. The follow-up drew on Mexican folklore, had no connection to the first series beyond the name, and featured Natalie Dormer as a malevolent Latinx deity who was part of the story but also not, cause it was more about the embattled Vega family as they made their way in 1930s-era Los Angeles, and even by the end of the season it was hard to tell why the supernatural elements were even there…?

And that’s before we get into all the subplots involving Nazis, city planning, German doctors, radio evangelists and more. It just didn’t quite work, so I’m not shocked to see the show on the chopping block.

Weirdly, HBO’s Perry Mason is set in the same time period and actually deals with a lot of the same themes, although there’s no supernatural element. That did get renewed for a second season, so if you’re looking for more 1930s LA noir stylings, consider checking that one out.

Natalie Dormer really did give a hell of a performance as Magda, though.

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