Here’s why Penny Dreadful didn’t turn the respectable Dr. Jekyll into his terrifying alter ego Mr. Hyde. Set in Victorian London, British-American horror series Penny Dreadful follows a motley crew of monsters and misfits as they battle against the supernatural forces lurking in the city. The show gets its name from the so-called penny dreadfuls – cheap, lurid magazines featuring sensational, gruesome stories that were popular reading material in 19th century Britain. Befittingly, Penny Dreadful features a host of classic characters from Gothic fiction like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Dr. Henry Jekyll, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was another literary character thrown into the Penny Dreadful mix. Played by Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery) Dr. Henry Jekyll appeared during the third and final season of Penny Dreadful and was introduced as a Cambridge University classmate of Victor Frankenstein’s (Harry Treadaway) who reunited with his old pal to help him either tame or destroy his wayward creation Lily (Billie Piper).
For those unfamiliar with the tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella is about a respected doctor named Henry Jekyll who has an interest in chemistry and creates a serum that allows him to transform into his alter ego Edward Hyde, and indulge his darkest, most twisted desires. The crux of the story is that Jekyll is no longer able to contain Hyde and so ends up killing both himself and his evil alter ego. Penny Dreadful’s take on Dr. Jekyll deviated somewhat from the original character, however, and the show’s fans never got to see him go full Hyde – or at least not in the way they expected.
Rather than a man who let his alter ego run wild, Penny Dreadful’s Dr. Jekyll developed a serum that could transform the most dangerously insane of people into lucid, rational beings. Throughout Dr. Jekyll’s short run on Penny Dreadful, it was implied a tumultuous childhood in which he and his Indian mother were abandoned by his rich British father and his subsequent shunning by society because of his Indian descent had – understandably – created a rage within him. Yet, rather than have this manifest as a Hyde-like spree, Jekyll learned to control his anger. He did, however, become Hyde in a way when the Penny Dreadful series finale revealed his father – Lord Hyde – had died leaving Dr. Jekyll to inherit his estate and title.
As for why Dr. Jekyll didn’t turn into the Mr. Hyde most know and fear, it would seem his fate was a casualty of Penny Dreadful’s rushed ending. Many fans took issue with how abruptly Penny Dreadful came to end and how several storylines and character fates were left hanging – Dr. Jekyll included. According to creator John Logan, he’d planned for Penny Dreadful to end the way it did but many suspect declining ratings and lack of funding brought the horror series to a premature end. If the show had continued for another season or two, perhaps Dr. Jekyll would’ve transformed into his terrifying alter ego but as it is, Penny Dreadful fans will have to accept his somewhat watered-down evolution into Lord Hyde instead.