Showtime has released the first teaser trailer for Penny Dreadful: City of Angels. Three and a half years after Penny Dreadful ended, showrunner John Logan is the creative force behind its spin-off. I was and continue to be a massive fan of the original series, Eva Green gave the performance of a lifetime, and we got to see lots of Timothy Dalton being a grizzled monster hunter. Despite its high-praise, Penny Dreadful struggled to find the audience it deserved.

While City of Angels relocates the story from Victorian London to 1938 L.A, the new series is described as “a spiritual descendant of the original”. The cast features  Natalie Dormer, Jessica Garza, Johnathan Nieves, Adriana Barraza, Kerry Bishé, and Nathan Lane. The only cast member from the original series to appear (so far) is Rory Kinnear, who will be playing a new character and not reprising Frankenstein’s Monster. The first teaser looks suitably glossy, potentially intriguing, but we’ll have to wait until the end of April to see if it is a worthy spin-off.

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels lands on Showtime April 26, there’s no fixed release date for the UK.

A spiritual descendant of the original Penny Dreadful story set in Victorian-era London, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels opens in 1938 Los Angeles, a time and place deeply infused with social and political tension. When a grisly murder shocks the city, Detective Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto) and his partner Lewis Michener (Nathan Lane) become embroiled in an epic story that reflects the rich history of Los Angeles: from the building of the city’s first freeways and its deep traditions of Mexican-American folklore, to the dangerous espionage actions of the Third Reich and the rise of radio evangelism. Before long, Tiago and his family are grappling with powerful forces that threaten to tear them apart.