Josh Hartnett is a big-haired cowboy on the set of Sam Mendes’ Penny Dreadful

I’ll be honest, the first thing that drew my attention to this story was this bizarre thumbnail of Josh Harnett. At a glance, he looked like he was cross-dressing, then when I clicked through to the actual article things got weird. Then as I’m scrolling through the pictures I see this teaser for an upcoming Showtime series called PENNY DREADFUL. Nice title, right?

If a teaser is involved, I try to dissect what I see before going straight to a synopsis (one was not included). So after two minutes of pondering, I go in search of a plot, here’s what I found:

“Some of literature’s most terrifying characters, including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula are lurking in the darkest corners of Victorian London. PENNY DREADFUL is a frightening psychological thriller that weaves together these classic horror origin stories into a new adult drama.”

Hartnett plays Ethan Chandler, “a charming, brash, daring man of action who is unafraid of violence and more complicated than he likes to admit.” That is the wig of a man who is “brash, daring and unafraid of violence”. The cast also includes Eva Green, Billie Piper (Rose Tyler from DOCTOR WHO), Reeve Carney, Timothy Dalton, Rory Kinnear, Harry Treadaway, and Helen McCrory. THE ORPHANAGE’S Juan Antonio Bayona will direct the first two episodes based on scripts from John Logan (SKYFALL). Sam Mendes serves as executive producer.

Check out the pics and teaser below. PENNY DREADFUL will premiere on Showtime in 2014.