Josh Hartnett lands juicy role in new Showtime series

LOS ANGELES -- Minnesota native Josh Hartnett is the latest actor to see that the best place to play dark, complicated characters is cable television.

He'll play Ethan Chandler, a "fake cowboy" in VIctorian London in "Penny Dreadful," a project from John Logan who was received Oscar nominations for his screenplays for "The Aviator," "Hugo" and "Gladiator." Logan wrote all eight episodes, which are being billed as a horror series with unorthodox monsters. Sam Mendes is one of the producers and Juan Antonio Bayona ("The Impossible") will direct at least two episodes.

Hartnett, whose film career is in a bit of a rut, will be working onscreen with Eva Green.

The production starts this fall with the launch coming next year.