With his massive monsters vs. robots film ‘Pacific Rim’ coming out this week, director Guillermo Del Toro can now shift his focus to his long list of upcoming projects. In the film realm, he’s preparing his next feature ‘Crimson Peak’. Then, in addition to that, he’ll also have some television projects on his plate, namely ‘The Strain’, the pilot adapting the vampire novel series written by himself and Chuck Hogan.
Back in September, FX gave the green light to the pilot that’s set to be co-written and directed by Del Toro. Then, it began to build up its cast as Corey Stoll of ‘The Bourne Legacy’ and veteran actor John Hurt joined the ranks. Now, another big name has signed on to the project.
According to The Wrap, ‘The Goonies’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ star Sean Astin is the newest team member on ‘The Strain’. Executive producer Carlton Cuse broke the news via Twitter that the former Samwise Gamgee has joined the cast:
We are thrilled to have the amazing Sean Astin join the cast of THE STRAIN.
— Carlton Cuse (@CarltonCuse) July 10, 2013
Word is that he’ll be playing the CDC team Administrator, Jim Kent, “the third member of the Canary Team triumvirate along with Ephraim Goodweather (Stoll) and Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro) who are charged with solving and containing the mysterious strain of vampirism that is sweeping over Manhattan”.
With an all-star cast like Hurt, Stoll, Astin, and of course Del Toro, attached to the pilot, it would be a huge surprise to see this pilot not get a series order. Now as the cast continues to shape up, we’ll be keeping an eye out for a start date for production and a premiere date.
What do you think Sean Astin joining the FX vampire drama that’s very different than all other portrayals of the blood suckers out there right now? Are you looking forward to seeing what else Guillermo Del Toro has up his sleeve for ‘The Strain’?
