Upcoming Dracula TV Series Has It’s Showrunner
Word is that Daniel Knauf, creator of the HBO series Carnivale and writer for shows like Supernatural and Spartacus: Vengeance, has joined NBC’s upcoming 10-episode miniseries Dracula as showrunner and head writer, working with series creator and Emmy winner Cole Haddon.
NBC's Dracula will feature the incredibly talented (and gorgeous) Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors, August Rush) as the legendary vampire. The series, from producers Tony Krantz and Colin Callender and writer Cole Haddon, is being produced for both NBC and the UK’s Sky Living. So the vampiric goodness can be enjoyed by viewers in and out of the US!
Based on an idea by Krantz, Dracula is set in the 1890s and has been described as "Dangerous Liaisons meets The Tudors," which is perfect given that Tudors star Meyers is playing the leading role. The new series reunites Meyers with NBC's Bob Greenblatt, who cast the Irish actor in The Tudors while running Showtime. And I am thrilled that Meyers is back again!
In the upcoming series Dracula (Meyers) arrives in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier but falls hopelessly in love with a woman who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife. "It is a timeless tale with relevant, surprising twists and turns with the exquisite Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the marquee role," said Universal Television Executive Vice President Bela Bajaria Bajaria. He added that, "We are thrilled to produce this smart, sophisticated, and provocative re-imagining of Dracula, in partnership with Colin, Tony and our International studio arm and Sky Living for NBC Network."
I can’t wait! First off, I love all vampire related television, and second, I am a giant Jonathan Rhys Meyers fangirl. I can’t think of a better actor for this role, he was brilliant in The Tudors.
Who else is excited about the Dracula miniseries?
- Moonlight
This miniseries might turn out to be terrific, but I am not a big fan of the ‘immortal’s reincarnated love’ trope when it comes to Dracula. It’s fine with She and The Mummy, maybe even Blacula, but in the Dan Curtis and Coppola Dracula adaptations it completely changes the character’s personality and motives. And then there the “revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier”, by which I assume descendants/reincarnations a la Black Sunday and Brainiac rather than fellow immortals. But who knows, maybe they’ll make both of these work.
With the creator of Carnivale as showrunner, could be very intersting ! More than i thought until now
Oh goody!
I see a lot of potential, especially with this showrunner. We shall see.