Showtime’s Penny Dreadful has once again been consigned to the dustbin of spooky history; THR reports that the sequel series, City Of Angels—which focused on Natalie Dormer as a demon stoking racial and cultural tensions in 1930s L.A.—has now been canceled after a single season on the air.
Developed, like the first Penny Dreadful series, by John Logan, City Of Angels hoped to transport the series’ blend of historical interrogation and “Ahhh! Real monsters!” horror to America’s fractured past, foregoing your various Frankensteins and Dorians Grey in favor of a story rooted in Mexican folklore, and the rise of European fascism. To decidedly mixed effect: Our TV editor, Danette Chavez, described the series’ finale as “spectacularly inept,” calling out the show’s lack of interest or insight into the themes it purportedly wanted to explore, in favor of pretty much just repeating itself over and over again—even as it geared up for a big cliffhanger ending.
In addition to Dormer, the series also starred Daniel Zovatto, Kerry Bishé, Adriana Barraza, and Nathan Lane; it aired its final episode back in June.