Spinoff shifts action from Victorian London to ‘30s Los Angeles

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, which Showtime calls a “spiritual descendant” of the Penny Dreadful series, starts Sunday, April 26. Nathan Lane, Natalie Dormer, Daniel Zovatto, Kerry Bishé, Rory Kinnear, Adriana Barraza and Michael Gladis are in the cast.

John Logan, the creator, writer and executive producer of Penny Dreadful, continues in those same roles. Michael Aguilar is also an executive producer, as are Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris of Neal Street Productions.

The series is set in 1938 Los Angeles, “a time and place deeply infused with social and political tension,” said Showtime. A horrific murder shocks the city, and Detective Tiago Vega (Zovatto) and his partner Lewis Michener (Lane) become tied up in a story that reflects the history of Los Angeles: from the building of its first freeways and its deep traditions of Mexican-American folklore, to the espionage actions of the Third Reich and the rise of radio evangelism.

Logan’s Desert Wolf Productions produces the show.

The original Penny Dreadful was set in Victorian London. It began in 2014 and went for three seasons.