Great News For 'Penny Dreadful' Fans!

Good news, Penny Dreadful fans! And good news also for all of you who couldn't handle Josh Hartnett's hiatus from the cultural conscience. Penny Dreadful was picked up for a second season! Not only that, but Showtime's sexy horror series starring Hartnett and Eva Green will also have two more episodes than its freshman season. Beyond that, as the show's viewership continues to grow, it sounds like the team is looking to make Penny Dreadful epic and enormous (laughs villainously).

No, but seriously. They're talking big stuff for the period costume drama, which already draws about 4.8 million viewers a week. Another season means more opportunities to build the audience, and further, the franchise. Showtime president David Nevins has said that the show is expecting to have a big presence at July's Comic Con, and that's just the beginning:

We're looking at this as a big-time franchise to grow over time and the show is only just beginning to lay out the world of Penny Dreadful.

So now you'll maybe be able to have a Bobble Head that looks like Josh Hartnett (all rejoice in his successful comeback!) — or Dorian Gray, for those of you who dig the literary aspect of the show, which is a key to what sets the show apart. I's a visually stunning take on horror stories rooted in classic literary tales, and that ensures that it has something for people who prefer contemporary television and those who prefer more classic tales.

Time will tell if this franchise will launch into something enormous, but hopefully someone will tell Josh Hartnett of these plans — after all, he turned down superhero roles, and those roles generally lead to a plastic figurine that resembles you. So maybe a Showtime inspired action figure is okay, but a Marvel-inspired one isn't? Either way, if Penny Dreadful expands the way Showtime is hoping, we may very well have Josh Hartnett action figures in the near future. Take that as you will.

Image: Showtime