The picture also gives first look at Patti LuPone as new character named Dr. Seward, an American therapist who treats Vanessa.
- Nov 13, 2015
AceShowbiz - "Penny Dreadful" isn't returning until 2016, but Showtime has offered a glimpse of the new season in a picture. The first photo from the third season highlights Vanessa (Eva Green), who is clearly not doing really well as she's battling the evil forces she cannot seem to escape.
She lies down on the floor while resting her head on the lap of Patti LuPone's character, an American therapist named Dr. Seward who treats Vanessa with an unconventional new approach. This picture also marks the first look at Dr. Seward.
After the second season finale, Vanessa begins to accept her dark part as the scorpion, which has been her sign of protection, melted into her, according to series creator John Logan. He explained, "What the scorpion suggests to me is that she is being powered by this dark, frightening thing within her."
Logan added, "When it melts into her hand, this isn't a gross shocking thing; this is her accepting the dark part of herself. She knows from the minute she accepts this scorpion and it gently melts into her, her destiny is set to that cross burning. Vanessa has accepted the complexity and duality of who she is. She is partly angel and partly monster, as are we all. And that finally is what the series is about."
LuPone previously guest starred in season 2 as Joan Clayton a.k.a. the Cut-Wife. She now joins the third season as a series regular. Other new additions in the cast for the the third season include Christian Camargo ("Dexter") as Dr. Alexander Sweet, a zoologist who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Vanessa; Samuel Barnett ("Jupiter Ascending") as Dr. Seward's mysterious young secretary; Jessica Barden ("The Outcast") as Justine, a young acolyte to Lily (Billie Piper) and Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney); Shazad Latif as an interpretation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Henry Jekyll; and Wes Studi as Kaetenay, a Native American with a connection to Josh Hartnett's Ethan.
