Need to Know: Josh Hartnett's Ethan Chandler

We swooned over Josh Hartnett in The Virgin Suicides andBlack Hawk Down. Now the 35-year-old actor has taken the step of many in Hollywood and joined a creative new television series to stretch his acting talents. Hartnett's back in the spotlight beginning in May, with a starring role as Ethan Chandler in Showtime's Penny Dreadful.

"There's something about Ethan that's very dark and very interesting," says Hartnett on his antihero, an American sharpshooter-cum-hired gun with a big secret and a checkered past.

Charming to a fault, Ethan forges a strong bond with Irish immigrant Brona Croft, played by the incomparable Billie Piper (who you may recall from Showtime's Secret Diary of a Call Girl). Working alongside Eva Green's Vanessa Ives and Timothy Dalton's Sir Malcolm Murray, the trio delves in the depths of London's dark underbelly in an attempt to right past wrongs and fight new evils, all the while running as fast as they can from their pasts.

Penny Dreadful premieres May 11 at 10 PM E/T. Watch an interview with Josh Hartnett below: