American heartthrob Josh Hartnett is back to the medium where he started from. The actor has been roped in to work in a new series on Showtime, a horror drama called "Penny Dreadful." The 35-year-old star will play Ethan Chandler, "a man of action and daring," says The Hollywood Reporter.

The upcoming psychosexual horror TV series, which will last eight episodes is directed by regular James Bond screenwriter John Logan and will co-star Eva Green of "Camelot and The Golden Compass." The series will weave together the origins of literary horror characters, such as Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein's monster, Dorian Gray, and Count Dracula, ain the backdrop of Victorian London.

Hartnett stars as Ethan Chandler, a charming, brash, daring man of action who is unafraid of violence and more complicated than he likes to admit. His co-star Eva Green plays the role of Vanessa, an enigmatic, composed heroine who proves herself a force to be reckoned with, according to Wikipedia's page of the series.

Hartnett launched his career in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series "Cracker." Hartnett has since gone on to further fame for his roles in films such as "Pearl Harbor," "O," "Black Hawk Down," "40 Days and 40 Nights" and "30 Days of Night" and has starred for a variety of well-known directors such as Ridley Scott, Brian De Palma, Robert Rodriguez, Tran Anh Hung, Roland Joffé and Michael Bay.

Eva Green performed in theatre before making her film debut in 2003 in Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial film "The Dreamers." Green quickly achieved greater fame by appearing in "Kingdom of Heaven (2005)," and as Vesper Lynd in the James Bond film "Casino Royale (2006)."

The U.K. was chosen as filming location as a direct consequence of the country's high-end drama tax breaks.

"If it weren't for the tax break, Showtime would have asked us to look to shoot in Ireland or Europe," Co-producer Pippa Harris told Screen's sister publication Broadcast. Production for the series is set to begin in London in the second half of 2013 and should premiere in 2014.