Check out all of our ongoing coverage of the TCA 2016 Winter Press Tour here. (Not familiar with the TCAs? Read our handy explainer).

Showtime announced at their TCA panel that the gothic drama Penny Dreadful will launch its first season in the same slot as last year, i.e. the first Sunday in May. I loved the show from the start, but Season 2 really stepped things up in a major way, and Season 3 is also suggesting some big leaps. We reported a few months ago that the upcoming season will feature the return of Patti LuPone, though as a new character, as well as the introduction of Dr. Henry Jekyll, played by Shazad Latif. (You can read the full list of new characters here and also at the bottom of this post). One of Seasons 3’s biggest challenges, though, will be finding a way to plausibly reunite its cast, who were all flung to the far corners of the earth in the Season 2 finale.

On the heels of the premiere date announcement, Showtime also released a sneak peek trailer for Season 3. In it, Lily (Billie Piper) and Dorian (Reeve Carney) are still doing their dance of death and destruction, while Vanessa (Eva Green) is cooped up in what looks like a mental ward. The Creature (Rory Kinnear) is roaming the countryside, it would seem (it’s so odd to see anything from this show not be a rainy, wintry London setting), and Ethan (Josh Hartnett) appears to be going Full Werewolf. Check it out below:


Umm .. those final frames are completely terrifying. I’m feeling like we’re going to get another amazing season of Eva Green being outstanding (although when is that anything other than a sure bet?) “Dread is coming for us all.” Are you ready?

Penny Dreadful Season 3 debuts Sunday, May 1st at 9 p.m. on Showtime. For a full list of 2016’s premiere dates, check out our handy calendar.

And here’s the full synopsis for the upcoming season:

This season on PENNY DREADFUL, Tony® Award-winning star Patti LuPone (American Horror Story), who guest starred last season as the Cut-Wife, returns as a series regular in the new role of Dr. Seward, an American therapist who treats Vanessa (Eva Green) with an unconventional new approach. Wes Studi (Hell On Wheels) joins as a series regular as Kaetenay, an intense, enigmatic Native American with a deep connection to Ethan (Josh Hartnett) who also becomes an ally to Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton). The third season also adds Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Henry Jekyll (Shazad Latif). Other guest stars include Screen Actors Guild® Award nominee Christian Camargo (DEXTER®, The Hurt Locker) as Dr. Alexander Sweet, a zoologist who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Vanessa; Sam Barnett (2012, Jupiter Ascending) as Dr. Seward’s mysterious young secretary; and Jessica Barden (The Outcast, Far from the Madding Crowd) as Justine, a young acolyte to Lily (Billie Piper) and Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), and Perdita Weeks (THE TUDORS), as Catriona Hartdegan, a scholar with expert knowledge of the supernatural. Simon Russell Beale returns as Dr. Ferdinand Lyle. Rory Kinnear (as The Creature) and Harry Treadaway (as Dr. Frankenstein) also star.


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Image via Showtime
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Image via Showtime