Reeve Carney :: Inside 'Penny Dreadful' & Upcoming 'Rocky Horror'

While Showtime's thrilling series "Penny Dreadful" is one that, true to its title, repeatedly shocks and excites viewers, the season three storyline for Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney) and Lily Frankenstein (Billie Piper) is proving to be one that is not to be missed.

While we've seen Dorian paired with men and women since the series began, he has found something different in the reanimated Lily, who he paired up with at the end of last season after killing his transgender lover, Angelique (played by "Stonewall" star Jonny Beauchamp).

In the new season, the pair has brought a young, troubled girl, Justine (Jessica Barden), into the fold and, as we saw this week, their relationship went to a deeply erotic place that literally involved a murder victim's blood.

Fun, right?

In the world of "Penny Dreadful," out creator John Logan thankfully doesn't hold back and Carney recently talked to EDGE about the current season. Besides offering us his take on Dorian's feelings for Lily he also gave us a preview of his role of Riff-Raff in Fox's upcoming broadcast of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" alongside Laverne Cox, who is playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

An eternal partner

EDGE: What are Dorian's feelings for Lily? Does he care for her or is she just fun?

Reeve Carney: I think the thing that primarily draws Dorian to Lily is the fact that in Lily he finds someone who truly could be an eternal partner. I think when you've lived as long as Dorian has lived and you've had to watch anyone you've potentially loved pass on before you it's amazing even to think that someone wouldn't become jaded to the point of not even getting back in the ring.

With Lily, I think this is the first chance potentially ever... there's never been a Dr. Frankenstein before Victor Frankenstein so there's never been the opportunity for a corpse to be reanimated and turned into someone as close to Dorian. I think that's the power of that relationship. I think he's going to follow her wherever she leads up to a certain point, which is why you see what happens in episode three.

EDGE: Tell me about working with Billie Piper. Even when you're just dancing around a room together, it's kind of intoxicating to watch.

Reeve Carney: It's great. It's amazing to work with her. I don't particularly see Dorian as a bloodthirsty kind of a guy. I don't think that's his m.o.; but I think with Lily, he's so infatuated with her and the possibility that exists by involving himself in a relationship with her and this partnership, he's up for trying something new. I think that's what's going on in that relationship.

Flash of jealousy?

EDGE: What do Dorian and Lily see in Justine?

Reeve Carney: Up to a certain point, I thought of it as a father/mother/daughter relationship between the three of them until [laughs] it takes a turn. I thought that would be interesting to play it that way so it would give the audience a bit of a surprise. I think initially there is a paternal quality but then it gets creepier when that shift happens.

EDGE: When Dorian kisses Justine for the first time after killing that man, I was waiting to see a flash of jealousy of Lily. Does jealousy come in at all?

Reeve Carney: Without saying too much, I think from my perspective, Lily and Dorian have different objectives here and I think that has something to do with why she wouldn't appear to be jealous in that aspect. I think Dorian is in a supportive role to Lily at this point. She's leading this and I think there are reasons she's interested in Dorian and nobody really knows those reasons for sure but he is a man of wealth so if I were Lily, I would see the benefit to being involved with someone like Dorian.

EDGE: It always seems like your story starts on its own but you eventually cross with the other characters. Can we expect to see that later in the season?

Reeve Carney: You can expect some pretty interesting and pretty exciting mingling of storylines at a certain point in the season.

Playing Riff Raff

EDGE: You just finished shooting 'Rocky Horror.' Was that a big leap from the craziness of 'Penny Dreadful' or was it an easy transition?

Reeve Carney: It was such a fun atmosphere on that set. For me, it's the first time really doing anything this comedic in nature. I really hope to have the opportunity to do more of that. I love doing drama and both are so wonderful but it's great to play a character so different from Dorian. I had such a fun time. I can't believe it's over already!

EDGE: What is your history with 'Rocky Horror?'

Reeve Carney: I had never seen it on stage or anything. I'd seen bits and pieces of the film throughout my teenage years so I'd never seen it all the way through but since [getting the job] I've watched it four times. But I didn't want to watch it too much because I didn't want ... Richard O'Brien's performance [in the 1975 film] is so amazing to me so I didn't want to borrow from it too heavily but just enough for people to go 'Oh, yeah, he likes Richard a lot.' I didn't want to do some kind of impression of anything. It was a lot of fun! I feel very lucky to be in it.

EDGE: Did it reawaken your desire to do musical theater?

Reeve Carney: I've been waiting for the time to put out my album and I think I'm going to put it out in the fall. Singing the songs in this show, it's probably the closest to the music I do on my own. It's the most similar to it so it got me thinking that maybe it's a good time to put out some new music.

Penny Dreadful airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime. "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is set to air later this year on Fox.