This year’s San Diego Comic-Con has a health concern. It looks to have been infected by ‘The Strain!’ The panel screened the third episode and had a round table discussion with executive producers Guillermo del Toro, Carlton Cuse, and Chuck Hogan. Cast members on hand included David Bradley, Nora Martinez, and Corey Stoll.

Highlights of the panel included:

  • Del Toro talking about the vampires he created in ‘The Strain’ and they come from studying vampire lore from around the world. “I’ve been working on this type of vampire since I was a kid. I was only ever interested in [The Strain’s] type of vampire.” The traditional vampires that have resided in movies as of late? Well, “They never peeled my banana.”
  • The worms in ‘The Strain’ are actually inspired by heart worms that were in dogs because “If it creeps me out, I put it in,” Del Toro laughed. “Someone else will be creeped out.”
  • FX has been very happy to let them do what they want. In terms of content, “we’ve made the show we wanted to make, and [FX] have been very supportive of that.”
  • According to Cuse,the plan is for the show to run five seasons. This will have each of the two books being two seasons long and have a little extra material that they’ve developed together past that to extend through a fifth season.
  • Del Toro joked that for set designs that they were the “ambulance chasers of producers” as they are constantly contacting cancelled shows to buy their used sets so to not have to make their own. This is a drastic change from ‘Crimson Peak‘ where they built a complete house from scratch.
  • Del Toro loves to play to the audience and let them all know one of the main ideas for the show is that every human is a host to anywhere between 80-100 parasites.
  • According to del Toro, a fun change up is that “Each survivor reacts to the curse of vampirism differently.” We’re going to see a ton of different takes on vampires depending on who is infected moving forward!

Have you been enjoying the tart to Del Toro’s ‘The Strain’? Do you think it’ll stay as fun as it has through five seasons? Share your thoughts below!

Sources: Bleeding Cool, IGN