"Penny Dreadful" definitely took its fans by surprise when it announced that Season 3 was its last run. Through a petition online, the show's fans, collectively known as The Dreadfuls, are asking Showtime to bring the show back on air.
In the online petition posted on Change.org, fans of "Penny Dreadful" appealed to the show's creator, John Logan, to "save the series or end the series in a proper manner." The petitioners also noted that they are devastated by the series' sudden and abrupt end.
They also provided three options as to how they wanted "Penny Dreadful" to proceed: "a limited last season run, a different network to pick up or a standalone 'Penny Dreadful' film."
Over 1,522 people have signed the petition.
"Penny Dreadful" Season 3 finale showed Vanessa's death and the end of her life-long suffering and torture. There was no prior warning that it would be the show's last episode ever. Fans only found out at the end of the final episode, which bore the words "the end."
The surprise didn't sit well with fans, who initially thought that it was just a gimmick and that there were more stories from the supernatural series. However, every Dreadful's worst fear was confirmed when it was later reported that Logan was no longer interested in continuing "Penny Dreadful."
"To me, the show was always going to achieve closure with the death of Vanessa. And all the storylines this season were meant to be leaving characters at a place of appropriate and beautiful stasis," Logan told TV Line. "So it was apparent that this season was leading toward the ending"
In a separate interview with Variety, Logan said that the show is about Vanessa "and her struggle with faith." He believe it would be "an act of bad faith" if he continued the show without his muse.
On the other hand, there's also a lot of talk that a "Penny Dreadful" spinoff series could be done and focus on a different character and a different story. Perdita Weeks drew a lot of attention for her performance as Catriona, who was presumably being groomed to become Vanessa's successor.
"Penny Dreadful" starred Eva Green, Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton, Billie Piper and Reeve Carney and Harry Treadaway.