Although Josh Hartnett’s comeback is well underway, the actor’s well-earned success won’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with his cult TV hit from the early 2010s, Josh Hartnett’s best movies followed as the actor appeared in Black Hawk Down, O, and Sin City in the early 2000s.

However, Hartnett’s success wasn’t without its slip-ups. Although Pearl Harbor was a financial hit, it was a critical failure, and both 2001’s Town & Country and 2003’s Hollywood Homicide failed to impress critics and audiences alike. 40 Days and 40 Nights also left reviewers unenthused, and soon it seemed like the actor’s era of box office dominance was at an end. Although Lucky Number Slevin fared well financially and Hartnett’s underrated vampire horror 30 Days of Night was a critical and commercial success, the following years saw him fade from big-screen relevance.

Josh Hartnett Was One Of The Best Things About Showtime’s Penny Dreadful

Hartnett Proved He Made A Great Leading Man In This Hit Series

A place in the starry cast of director Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer brought attention back to Hartnett in 2023, and the spotlight didn't arrive a moment too soon. By 2024, the “Josh Hartnett renaissance” was well underway thanks to his superb central turn in M. Night Shyamalan’s wild Trap. A high-concept serial killer thriller that dropped Hartnett’s murderer into the unlikely milieu of a teen pop star’s crowded concert, Trap was a financial hit upon release. Even the movie’s detractors itted that Hartnett’s performance was Trap’s secret weapon, as the actor clearly had a ball.

However, some readers will be unsurprised to hear that Hartnett won acclaim for subverting his screen heartthrob persona. After all, the Showtime series Penny Dreadful already proved that Hartnett could tackle tongue-in-cheek horror mystery hybrids with aplomb. In Penny Dreadful, Hartnett played the mysterious American gunslinger Ethan Chandler, a sharpshooter with a dark past. Even though most of the show’s other main characters were riffs on Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Dracula, and other stars of famous Victorian horror literature, Chandler’s true identity was still a surprise when it was revealed.

Penny Dreadful Was A Reminder Of How Great Harnett Could Be In Leading Roles

Hartnett’s Penny Dreadful Role Predated His Return To Lead Roles in Trap

Although Penny Dreadful season 4 never happened since the series was instead replaced by the spinoff Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, the show still proved that Hartnett was a great leading man shortly before Oppenheimer and Trap. Hartnett’s first small screen role since his career began was arguably his best project since Sin City and a perfect reintroduction for the actor.

Penny Dreadful saw him fuse the charisma of his early screen persona with a darker edge, using his age to his advantage.

When viewers first met Hartnett, he was primarily playing cheeky teenage charmers. As he aged, the star struggled to balance gravitas and wit in his later roles. However, Penny Dreadful saw him fuse the charisma of his early screen persona with a darker edge, using his age to his advantage. Soon after, Shyamalan made use of this newfound edge in Trap. Thus, the overdue Josh Hartnett renaissance only truly got underway years after Penny Dreadful ended.