this needs a featured image too
Entertainment Editor Elissa Smith and I are pumped for season 3 of Penny Dreadful, so in preparation we decided to do what fans do best: speculate on what surprises lay ahead, and discuss the things we hope to see. Naturally, some of those hopes are based on previews and some are based purely on our wishes and preferences, but that’s what fangirling is for.
Dr. Seward will be played by Patti LuPone, an exciting development after her fantastic turn as The Cut-Wife in last season’s best episode. Like her literary counterpart, she’s the head of an asylum, and it looks like Vanessa will be her patient. Beyond the name and occupation, we don’t know much about this version of the character, although we hope LuPone’s performance here will be as memorable as it was in season two. Will this Seward tie into the Dracula mythos established early in the series? The presence of Dr. Seward suggests that they could dive back into Dracula, and there’s a lot of story still there to be told. Besides, LuPone will be wasted if there’s nothing more than an ordinary psychologist, although her “unconventional methods” sound promising. She’ll also have to develop a close relationship to Vanessa, which could mean another season where Ms. Ives circles an equally-intimidating and powerful woman, and we’re 700% here for that.
Onto more iconic characters, Shazad Latif will be joining the cast as Dr. Jekyll, although there’s been no word yet on Mr. Hyde. Latif was conspicuously absent from the new trailer– hopefully we don’t have to wait too long to see the doctor or his livelier companion. As a few recent adaptations have demonstrated, Hyde can be really difficult to do without verging from menacing into cheesy, but Penny Dreadful has always walked that line with panache. I hope to see something more like the old Frederic March and John Barrymore versions, portrayals that made Hyde genuinely frightening, although I’d like to see an updated design (something other than gross teeth and messy hair). With a werewolf in the show already, they’ll have to do something to differentiate the two, but the show is creative if nothing else, and I’m sure they’re up to the task.
Elissa is curious to see what they would do with a different actor playing Hyde, rather than getting too heavy on creature effects. As for Hyde’s design?
I don’t even know. I want to say lets have something more true to the book and have Hyde be this ugly short hairy man but….part of me loves the Hot Topicness of good old-fashioned guyliner
so
*shrug* I have no shame
Speaking of shame, Victor Frankenstein and his Creation are back for a third season of crying. Both characters were left in ambiguous places at the end of last season. Victor is more lost and helpless than ever before, which he deserves after being such a creep in some of the most unsettling work the series has ever done. (Elissa: “I feel like his problems would be solved by talking to someone – someone who wasn’t a corpse at one point”). The Creature, now calling himself John Clare, has learned the depths of human treachery anew, but hopefully we’ll see a version of the character that’s less convinced that he’s entitled to a bride. His scenes with Vanessa saw a softer and more mature side in him, one who was desperate for any companionship and affection. Maybe he’ll return from the Arctic with a new perspective and a new identity culled from British literary history. We came up with some suggestions: Caleb Williams, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, J Alfred Prufrock, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Sidney Carton, Boris Karloff, Billy Pilgrim, Edward Cullen, The Cat in the Hat, or Spot.
Anyway.
She’s not in any of the promo material, but we’d like to see Mina Murray again. She is amazing, and deserves so much more than season one gave her (besides, when vampires are involved, dead isn’t always “dead”). We’ll accept more flashbacks, but we’d prefer to see her, a newly powerful and confident vampire, reunited and reconciled with her BFF Vanessa. We’re looking forward to seeing Dracula (or whatever they’re calling the Big Daddy Vampire) again too. We want all of the vampires. But that’s just us.
Some of the best stuff in the series has no literary antecedent – Vanessa and Lily are especial highlights – while some of the worst things do (like practically-Victorian representation of minorities – Sembene and Angelique, ye will be missed). But there’s a lot to be excited about for bookish fans, especially those of us who enjoy British actors reciting sensual Romantic poetry.
And hopefully we’ll see the return of Allison’s Top Season 2 MVP: Ethan’s comfy sweaters.
What are you most excited about? Which other Victorian(-ish) literary figures would you like to see on the show?
//Images via Showtime, Collider and io9.
The post Penny Dreadful: The Most Exciting Literary Connections in Season 3 appeared first on Paper Droids.