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FX has always had a good history of having gritty and violent television. From ‘The Shield’ to ‘Rescue Me’ to ‘Sons of Anarchy’ to ‘American Horror Story‘ – FX knows how to do some great television. So I’m extremely happy that they’ve announced that one of my favorite directors, Guillermo del Toro (‘Hellboy‘), and author Chuck Hogan are getting together to give us a show about vampirism.  Well color me interested! That’s right, FX has picked up ‘The Strain’ an it sounds like it’s going to be absolutely amazing!

If the series gets picked up, FX will run a 13 episode season which I fully feel is going to be based off of just the first novel, so we should have at the very least a 3 season blockbuster on our hands. The best part about ‘The Strain’ though, is that it’s co-leads are going to be Corey Stoll (‘The Bourne Legacy’ ) and John Hurt (everything under the sun.) I am a huge John Hurt fan and his ability to bring a force to the big (or in this case small) screen makes me twice as happy as the initial announcement!

In the series, Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) is the head of the CDC in New York and when a viral outbreak occurs, things go from deadly to strange. The outbreak appears to be related not by the standard culprits, but by vampires. How exactly does the CDC deal with that? We’ll be finding out on FX!

To give a little more background on what the first season of ‘The Strain’ would be about, here’s the official description of the first novel of a trilogy that the show is based upon:

An epic battle for survival begins between man and vampire in The Strain—the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy from one of Hollywood’s most inventive storytellers and a critically acclaimed thriller writer. Guillermo del Toro, the genius director of the Academy Award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy, and Hammett Award-winning author Chuck Hogan have joined forces to boldly reinvent the vampire novel. Brilliant, blood-chilling, and unputdownable, The Strain is a nightmare of the first order.

What do you think about a show by del Toro and starring Hurt?

 

Source: Deadline.