Harry Treadaway (Control, Fish Tank) stars as Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Showtime’s popular series Penny Dreadful created by John Logan and set to return for a second season next year. The Showtime series helped kick off the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con with a panel and party attended by cast members and creator Logan. The series features some of the most iconic figures in literary horror history and audiences tuned in in huge numbers to season one of this supernatural thriller set in Victorian London and featuring Treadaway, Josh Hartnett, and Reeve Carney, all of whom made their way to San Diego to talk about their work on the show.
Catching up with Treadaway on the red carpet at Penny Dreadful‘s party, I asked him whether he views Victor Frankenstein as one of the heroic or villainous characters in the series.
“I mean, it’s interesting. I think when I look at him as a character, if you look at him objectively it’s very, very different than if you look at him subjectively from the inside,” explained Treadaway. “So, when I look at him removed it’s a barbaric mental state of affairs. But from the inside it’s quite clear and kind of he’s sound with his goal. So, I can look at it two ways.”
They introduced the Bride of Frankenstein story fairly early on in season one, so how will that progress and what’s in store for season two for Victor? “I haven’t read the second season so for me it’s going to be a wonderful surprise. I’m really interested to read it. We’re going to get them in the next week and then start filming in mid-September. So to me I’m blind as you are right now,” replied Treadaway.
As far as delving into the creature research, Treadaway revealed he didn’t watch any of the Universal creature features. “I only read the novel. That was like the sort of pure research I did for it, in terms of Frankenstein as a story. But really there was more work, or as much work, in terms of the medical background of this man and where he’d been to school and what he’d been doing with his time before we met him. So, to look into the Victorian era and the medical sort of what was going on at the time with science and the breakthroughs that were happening then, that was fascinating. That kind of framed it in a way that was useful to sort of start the journey, really,” said Treadaway.
I also had the opportunity to briefly ask John Logan a few questions about Penny Dreadful as he was heading into the party:
