Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Cast, Story and Everything to Know

Penny Dreadful may have been a beloved, star-studded peak television offering that made its mark before proactively closing shop after just three seasons, but the classic-literature-crossover Showtime supernatural series will continue its legacy with a sequel series. The premium cable channel dropped major details back in November about the follow-up series, titled Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.

While the sequel series makes a dramatic shift away from the settings and characters of 2014-2016’s Penny Dreadful, it will have the support of its key personnel, namely creator John Logan, who returns to serve as writer and executive producer, joined in the latter capacity by Michael Aguilar, who's worked on recent Showtime offerings Kidding and I’m Dying Up Here.

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Cast

Nathan Lane is joining the cast of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, reports Variety. He will play Lewis Michener, described as “a veteran officer in the LAPD, wise to the ways of the world and ruthless in pursuit of his goals.” Lewis will be assigned as the partner of series protagonist Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto), to whom he will also serve as a mentor.

Lane, a decorated three-time Tony winning, five-time Emmy nominated actor, has been fielding a TV run on ABC’s Modern Family, along with a notable 2018 guest role on NBC's The Blacklist and a run on FX’s American Crime Story’s 2016 O.J. Simpson-centric first season. Known as the voice of meerkat Timon in Disney’s The Lion King, Lane became a household name off a memorable performance opposite Robin Williams in 1996’s The Birdcage, and cemented his stardom in 2005’s The Producers, in which he and Matthew Broderick put their acclaimed Broadway adaptation of the Mel Brooks classic comedy to film.

Natalie Dormer recently joined the cast, set to play Magda, a character Showtime describes as “a supernatural demon who can take the appearance of anyone she chooses and manifests in a number of guises throughout the story. Charismatic, clever and chameleonic, Magda is a dangerous enemy and an invaluable ally.”

While Dormer has been featured on numerous high-profile platforms, she’s probably best known for her role as Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones, also as Cressida from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts I & II, and as Anne Boleyn on The Tudors. She recently starred on Amazon’s television series remake, Picnic at Hanging Rock, and will next be seen – opposite Mel Gibson and Sean Penn – in this year's historical dictionary drama, The Professor and the Madman.

Jessica Garza will play Josefina, described as “the youngest of the Vega family [of protagonist Tiago Vega, played by Daniel Zovatto]. She plays the part of the quiet and overlooked younger sister but possesses a powerful spirit waiting to be unleashed.” Garza, and up-and-comer, was recently seen fielding TV runs on USA Network’s The Purge and History’s Six. She’s also banked appearances on shows such as A.P. Bio, Modern Family, Sweet/Vicious and NCIS.

Johnathan Nieves will play Mateo Vega, described as “Tiago's volatile younger brother. Though essentially goodhearted, he lacks the clear strength and ambition of Tiago and is vulnerable to both his own capricious emotions and influences around him.” The CV of Nieves, a newcomer, only consists of a handful of TV appearances on shows such as New Amsterdam, Better Call Saul, Shameless and Chicago Fire, with a lone film credit in 2017’s Neighborhood Food Drive. He’ll next be seen in the sci-fi film, See You Yesterday.

Daniel Zovatto is set as the star of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, as first reported by Deadline. His character, Tiago Vega, will be treated as the male protagonist of the series, despite its ensemble status. As the Los Angeles Police Department’s first Mexican-American detective, Tiago’s reality in 1938 will be rife with – as the report describes – “racism, childhood trauma and faith issues.” Additionally, the seemingly inexplicable occurrences of the supernatural should also be present on his plate, per the show’s theme.

Zovatto, a Costa Rica-born actor, was prominently seen in horror movies Don’t Breathe and It Follows, and the Greta Gerwig-directed comedy, Lady Bird. He’ll be coming off a TV run on HBO’s Here and Now, having fielded runs on the Bret Easton Ellis-developed The Deleted, ABC’s Revenge and is also remembered from a Season 2 run on AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead.

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels Details

Here's the official Penny Dreadful: City of Angels poster:

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels brandishes the initial tag line: “Sometimes what’s dead doesn’t always remain.” The show is described as a “spiritual descendant" of the original series, set to focus on an entirely new set of characters, moving the mythos chronologically ahead and a whole continent away from the previous show’s Victorian London setting to 1938 Los Angeles. There, the backdrop – teeming with social tension – will facilitate events rooted in Mexican-American aspects of supernatural folklore, with denizens who are in conflict over their respective focuses of worship, with some loyal to the deity, Santa Muerte, and others who worship the Devil. Consequently, the series is described as an amalgamation of the social realities of the setting and time period with themes centering on the occult.

As Gary Levine, President of Programming, Showtime Networks Inc., expresses in a statement:

“We were so thrilled when John Logan came to us with this wildly original take on the Penny Dreadful mythology that explores both the human spirit and the spirit world here in California." He adds, "Penny Dreadful: City of Angels promises to be an extraordinary saga of familial love set against the terrifying monsters that are around us and within us.”

While the original series balanced themes of magic and monsters with the economic desperation and soot-and-smog-strewn realities of Victorian London, City of Angels will apparently exercise a balance of its own between the socio-political and supernatural. As creator John Logan explains:

“Penny Dreadful: City of Angels will have a social consciousness and historical awareness that we chose not to explore in the Penny Dreadful London storylines,” Logan said. “We will now be grappling with specific historical and real world political, religious, social and racial issues. In 1938, Los Angeles was facing some hard questions about its future and its soul. Our characters must do the same. There are no easy answers. There are only powerful questions and arresting moral challenges. As always in the world of Penny Dreadful, there are no heroes or villains in this world, only protagonists and antagonists; complicated and conflicted characters living on the fulcrum of moral choice.”

Along with Logan and Aguilar, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels will also see executive producers onboard in Oscar winner Sam Mendes (Skyfall, American Beauty) and Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road) on behalf of Neal Street Productions. Logan is onboard via his Desert Wolf Productions. James Bagley is also onboard, serving as co-executive producer.

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels is expected to go into production in 2019. We will keep you updated as the details arrive!

Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.