TV Shows Like Penny Dreadful
If you like Penny Dreadful, here are 12 similar TV shows — each with its current AI renewal verdict, so you can see which are still going and which have been cancelled.
Showtime · Sci-Fi & Fantasy · Penny Dreadful is ended
Penny Dreadful works because it trusts that audiences know the source material. There is genuine pleasure in watching Dr. Frankenstein's creature stagger through fog-choked streets, or seeing Dracula's shadow fall across a drawing room, without explanation. The show doesn't retell these stories so much as it excavates them, pulling lesser-known threads and showing how these figures might have collided in the same dark corner of Victorian London. It's a high-wire act—taking beloved literary monsters and refusing to simplify them into villains.
The best shows like Penny Dreadful
1. The Sandman
Like Penny Dreadful, The Sandman builds its mythology from layers of storytelling and literary depth, creating a world where the fantastical and the intimate coexist. Both shows trust their audience to follow complex narratives that reward close attention and revisit of themes across episodes.
Stream on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Ended0%
2. Killing Eve
Killing Eve shares Penny Dreadful's fascination with obsession and the psychology of characters who exist outside normal morality. Both shows create an intense intimacy between people locked in conflict, where attraction and violence become inseparable.
Stream on Netflix, fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential
Ended0%
3. The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone anthology structure allows it to explore the strange and unsettling in ways Penny Dreadful achieves through atmosphere, finding the horror lurking beneath ordinary situations. Both shows use the supernatural or unusual to examine human nature rather than to simply frighten.
Cancelled0%
4. Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
Cabinet of Curiosities matches Penny Dreadful's commitment to visual precision and unsettling mood, using strange imagery and darkness to create a sense of dread. Both are collections of stories that prioritize aesthetic horror and the grotesque over plot convenience.
Stream on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Ended0%
5. The Nevers
The Nevers is set in the same Victorian London as Penny Dreadful and shares its interest in how society treats those who don't fit its boundaries. Both shows examine power structures and the supernatural as metaphor for exclusion and resistance.
Cancelled0%
More on shows like Penny Dreadful
What makes this work is the show's commitment to mood and psychology over explanation. The horror is atmospheric and internal. Characters are haunted not just by external threats but by their own desires, ambitions, and the weight of secrets. The violence matters because it comes from genuine desperation and moral complexity, not from spectacle. Victorian London becomes another character, all gas lamps and shadow, a place where the supernatural feels inevitable rather than intrusive.
Fans of Penny Dreadful tend to want more stories that take themselves seriously, that layer mythology with character and atmosphere, and that aren't afraid of being strange or unsettling. They want shows that respect their intelligence and don't explain every plot point. The recommendations here offer different approaches to similar pleasures: The Sandman and The Nevers build worlds from literary and mythic foundations. Killing Eve and The Twilight Zone explore the psychological obsession and the uncanny reframing of reality that Penny Dreadful handles so well. Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities matches that visual precision and commitment to unsettling atmosphere.
More shows like Penny Dreadful
Frequently asked
- What is the most popular show like Penny Dreadful?
- The Sandman is the most popular show similar to Penny Dreadful in the IsItRenewed catalogue.
- Are shows like Penny Dreadful still on the air?
- Of the 12 shows similar to Penny Dreadful listed here, 0 currently carry a renewed verdict — the rest are cancelled, ended, or awaiting a decision.
- How does IsItRenewed pick shows like Penny Dreadful?
- The recommendations come from TMDB's similar-titles data, and each is shown with its current AI renewal verdict so you know which are still going.