Dracula – Coming to Sky Living, Autumn 2013
The last fews weeks have seen a few bits of news about the new Sky/NBC co-produced Dracula series appear on the interwebs, so I thought i’d do a little round up of what we know so far.
Jessica De Gouw plays Mina
Set in 1890s London, the show stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) as Dracula, who is posing as Alan Grayson – an American entrepreneur with an interest in modern invention and science such as electricity… Handy for bringing light into the dark nights of Victorian England! His true purpose however, is to take revenge on a number of people who crossed him centuries earlier. All is going to plan, until he spots medical student Mina Murray (Jessica De Gouw – recently seen as The Huntress in Arrow) who appears to be the reincarnation of his dead wife…
Katie McGrath (Morgana in Merlin) has been cast as Mina’s best friend Lucy Westenra, who is usually portrayed as a sexy little troublemaker, so Katie’s a perfect bit of casting! Victoria Smurfit (Cold Feet, Trial & Retribution) takes on the role of Lady Jane, a beautiful, young, fashionable woman, who falls for, and pursues the charismatic ‘Grayson’.
Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong, The River) has been cast as Van Helsing, although this is a different take on the vampire slayer. He’s described as a ‘brilliant professor’ with a frosty exterior, and an obsession with revenge that potentially makes him more of a threat to the public than to Dracula.
Oliver Jackson-Cohen (World Without End, Mr Selfridge) will play Jonathan Harker, a tenacious young journalist, desperate to secure a place in the world of the aristocracy, and Nonso Anozie (Game Of Thrones) takes on the role of Renfield, Dracula’s ‘fiercely loyal confidante’.
As you can tell by the various descriptions, it’s not really sticking too closely to Stoker’s original text, but I think it’s shaping up to be an interesting take on the Dracula tale. We’ll have to wait till Autumn 2013 to find out!
