Penny Dreadful ends after three seasons

The Victorian horror series, Penny Dreadful, wrapped up its story during the last episode of the third season.

Penny Dreadful, which starred Eva Green as Vanessa Ives, combined the stories of classic literary characters such as Dr. Frankenstein, Sir Malcolm Murray, Dorian Gray, and Dr. Jekyll. After three seasons and 27 episodes, the show finally reached its conclusion in the season three finale, entitled “The Blessed Dark.” Show creator John Logan confirmed that this had been his plan from the beginning and the story was definitely complete.

In an interview with Variety, Logan and Showtime president David Nevins discussed working on the show.

Logan said:

“This is a show about Vanessa Ives and her struggle with faith — how one woman grapples with God and the devil. Midway through the second season, when we were filming it —so about two years ago— I realized where we were heading. A woman who loses her faith in the second season, she has to grasp her way back. What that would take? To me, that was an apotheosis — she would find peace finally with God. I realized that’s where the show was heading, and so I talked to Eva about it and then I talked to David.”

Nevins confirmed that the character of Ives was the focus of the show and without her it could not go on. Logan also added that there was no doubt in his mind that the show had to end this way, and to continue it past Vanessa’s death would be “an act of bad faith.” Logan also raved about Penny Dreadful’s passionate and dedicated fanbase.

When asked about their decision to not reveal that this would be the final season, Nevins said:

“We deliberately made the decision not to announce going into season three this was the final season, because given where we knew the season was ending, that would have been a massive spoiler. It would not have felt like the right way to handle this show. If it had been a more conventional show, I think I would have given a little more warning to the audience. But it felt like, in this case, that was the obvious move, but not the bold move.”

The main theme of the show, according to Logan, was empowerment and having control of one’s destiny, and that’s what Vanessa Ives eventually had. He added:

“To me, whether you’re male, female, gay, straight, whatever — you control your destiny. You make the choices that are right for your morality and your ethics and your heart, and that’s what she does. She owns her life, and at the end of the day, she owns her death.”

Logan also discussed the fates of the characters left behind at the end of the show and how their choices led them to their final moments:

“The season was structured for this to be the final chapter and to be satisfying as the final chapter. That’s why in this season, Ethan loses a father but gains a father in Sir Malcolm. Sir Malcolm has finally lost the last remnant he has of his family, which is Vanessa, but he gains Ethan as a surrogate son. Dorian Gray is left alone, framed in a doorway as if he’s in a portrait, in this wistful, poignant place. Lily is left empowered, walking out and choosing to live any sort of life rather than live the compromised life with Dorian. It was meant to all come together in this episode, all the strands.”

Logan prepared a short video message to say goodbye and to thank all the Penny Dreadful fans:

And the cast of Penny Dreadful also reflected on the ending of the show in this video:

So we bid a fond farewell to Penny Dreadful, a finely crafted, haunting series full of compelling characters that we will never forget.