Del Toro is bringing THE STRAIN to TV

There’s no way that director and producer Guillermo Del Toro can be classified as a normal human. The man seems to have unlimited supplies of energy, as evidenced by his current, heavy workload, and he’s adding even more Strain (Haw!) to it, with an upcoming gig on a new vampire show for TV.

Del Toro has been tapped to help bring to life the trilogy of bloodsucking novels, The Strain, The Fall and The Night Eternal, which is centred on CDC doctor Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather, a man tracking down the cause of a new virus which has the unfortunate side-effect of turning people into  creatures with a taste for blood.

Co-written with Chuck Hogan, the idea has received the nod to film a pilot episode, Carlton “Lost” Cuse is also on board to adapt the literary work for the FX cable network channel.

But the real rub comes in the form that the people involved see the project as one with a definite beginning, middle and end. “FX made the most sense, based on the level of commitment, passion and understanding of the concept of the book,” says del Toro. “They got behind the idea of making this a close-ended series; we wanted to follow the books closely and so it couldn’t be open-ended, but rather three to five seasons max.”

Well hey, vampires are still the rage on TV right now, but looking at the way that Del Toro has handled them in the past, I’d actually watch a TV show starring the overused Nosferatu if it had his signature on it.

Last Updated: September 21, 2012