The culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase One delivered a history-making crossover like no other when The Avengers exploded into theaters, whereas Universal’s Dark Universe did the complete opposite and fell to pieces at the first hurdle. Their respective fortunes couldn’t be more different, but for the sake of an analogy, if you combine the two then you end up with something that looks a lot like the criminally underrated Penny Dreadful.
While Showtime’s slow-burning Gothic favorite did manage to last for three seasons and a spin-off that was as short-lived as it was ill-fated, neither ratings nor reviews were what you’d call through the roof. That’s a damn shame, because the concept was as ingenious as it was engaging, with a cavalcade of literary and horror icons all orbiting around each other in a blood-soaked and atmospheric mythology.
Dorian Gray, Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, witches, vampires, werewolves, Mina Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, Henry Jekyll, as well as Dracula and assistant Renfield were just some of the titans to swing by at one stage or another, combining for an intoxicating stew that showcased just how badly Universal dropped the ball with its own plans for interconnectivity that saw Tom Cruise’s The Mummy release less than a year after Penny Dreadful had ended.
Seven years on, and a celebratory Reddit thread has made it abundantly clear the love for Penny Dreadful and its unfairly underappreciated status remains as strong as ever, which is exactly how it should be when it endures as a true gem that deserved a bigger audience.