Showtime programming president Gary Levine has explained the decision to cancel Penny Dreadful Season 4, per Digital Spy:
“I think we all together came to the idea [of], ‘You know what? The series has made bold moves in all different directions. Let’s make a bold move of putting up ‘The End’ at the end of the final episode and then announcing to the world that it was over’.
I think [Logan] always envisioned a three-season arc for her and that character.”
Levine confirmed that a fourth season without Logan and Vanessa Ives was considered prior to swinging the axe:
“I was trying to keep open the possibility of going beyond, but as we were going into that final season, it became clear that the combination of that character and John as a writer were the heart of the show, so it seemed like it was going to be foolhardy to continue going.”
The death of Vanessa Ives was plotted… So then it became a question for us: Is there a life for the series beyond both Vanessa Ives and John Logan’s writing?
And for us, we thought the series would just lose its authenticity that way. So it was a moving target, which is partly why we chose to end it.”
mort says
Gary Levine two words for you mate “You Suck”
Rick says
Well, that was certainly unexpected. There was a lot of life left in the series, much development to be done.