Trivia / Penny Dreadful: City of Angels

• Acting for Two: Natalie Dormer plays four roles: German housewife Elsa Branson; Alex Malone, a PR handler for a Los Angeles Councilman; bisexual pachuco club owner Rio; and a demoness named Magda.
• Actor Allusion: One of Nathan Lane's most famous theater roles is Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, whose love interest is Miss Adelaide. Amy Madigan plays a character called "Miss Adelaide" in City of Angels.
• Cast the Expert: If you need a torch singer for a gay club, you can't really do better than Patti LuPone.
• Duelling Works: City of Angels debuted about two months before HBO's adaptation of Perry Mason, both of which are set in interwar-period Los Angeles and include characters based on Sister Aimee Semple-McPherson.
• Fake American: The Costa Rican Daniel Zovatto plays the Mexican-American Tiago Vega, and the English Dominic Sherwood plays the German-American Kurt.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Brits Natalie Dormer and Rory Kinnear as Germans Elsa Branson and Dr. Kraft. Dormer also plays the Mexican-American Rio and the American Alex Malone.
  • Elsa, Alex, and Rio being all different manifestations of Humanoid Abomination Magda, their nationalities are also fake In-Universe.
  • American Ethan Peck as German Hermann Ackermann. Really, there are far more fake Germans than genuine ones.
• Playing Against Type: Nathan Lane is famous for his comedic and musical theater roles, playing bombastic Large Ham characters. His character in City of Angels is an Inspector Lestrade-style detective, sympathetic and quiet.
• Production Posse: Rory Kinnear makes his fourth appearance in a John Logan production here. (Despite this show sharing part of its title with the original Penny Dreadful, Dr. Kraft and the Creature are apparently unrelated.)