Carlton Cuse (‘Lost’,’Bates Motel’), the showrunner of FX’s upcoming vampire epic, ‘The Strain’, recently sat down and chatted up on what we can expect from the show from the minds of Guillermo del Toro (‘Pacific Rim‘,”) and Chuck Hogan. Fans of the work aren’t the only ones excited about the project as Cuse himself had originally read the novel in 2009 and was a fan long before being approached to work on the show.

In a world where the zombie has become the domineering force in horror, vampires have fallen to the background. It doesn’t help that they’ve been romanticized by Anne Rice and turned into a pale reflection of themselves by ‘Twilight’ so that the terror they can evoke has long fled. Films such as ’30 Days of Night’ have helped keep the horror in their veins but Cuse promises us that we’ll “never look at vampires the same way. These are not sparkly, brooding dudes with fangs and romantic problems. These vampires, or to use the Romanian word, tragoi, are really scary creatures.”

This is a promise that already gives hope (and given Del Toro’s source material there’d be no way to do it differently).  The show will mix vampire lore with the modern world and as Cuse explains “There’s an interesting intersection in the story between empiricism and religion. It’s a really great yarn and it’s exciting, but it’s about something more.”

The series is looking to be a 3-5 season run and if they can keep up the promised suspense through the entire series, we could have a real blockbuster on our hands. FX is known for doing dark and gritty shows and this seems to be the perfect landing pad for a show about vampires to be launched from. While the series is based on the novels, Cuse also promises that the series will give the viewers a “deeper and richer experience.”

So about the vampires themselves?

“It’s a really an interesting vision of the vampires. There’s a wonderful mythology about these vampires and their back stories. They’re sentient, and it’s a layered force of antagonism that our characters are up to in this story, which differentiates itself from other shows in the genre. These creatures, as imagined by Guillermo, I believe are really compelling, interesting and different than what you’ve seen before. Not unlike Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo has brought a real vision to the way these creatures have been realized that I think audiences will find compelling.”

I cannot wait for the series to premiere in July! What do you fine folks think? Are we being prepared for a new take on the classic monsters who have been so overlooked and degraded in recent years? Share your thoughts below!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter