After seven years of development, Andrew Hinderaker’s (I Am Going to Change the World, Penny Dreadful) adaptation of the vampire tale, Let the Right One In, will finally make its television debut at Showtime. Deadline reports the network ordered Hinderaker’s pilot to series, which will begin production in early 2022.
Based on the 2004 novel from John Ajvide Lindqvist (Handling the Undead, Harbor), the ten-episode season was originally pitched to A&E Studios in 2015, via Deadline. It was then shopped to TNT the next year but did not venture past pilot order. After some retooling of the 2016 pitch, Tomorrow Studios recruited a new writer and redeveloped the series that is now at Showtime.
According to Deadline, the show will star Demián Bichir (The Nun, Land) and Madison Taylor Baez (Selena: The Series, The Tooth Racket) as father and daughter whose lives are forever changed when the daughter is transformed into a vampire. Bichir will play Mark, the dutiful father who works earnestly to keep Baez’s Eleanor adequately fed and protected from the outside world. According to the Showtime press release, the show “will upend genre expectations, turning a naturalistic lens on human frailty, strength, and compassion.” The series will also star Anika Noni Rose (Power, Dreamgirls), Grace Gummer (Dr. Death, Mr. Robot), Ian Foreman (Dogwood, Merry Wish-mas), Kevin Carroll (The Walking Dead, Snowfall), and Jacob Buster (Colony, Suits).
According to Deadline, Hinderaker will serve as showrunner and executive produce along with pilot director, Seith Mann (Five Deep Breaths, Dexter). They are joined by Tomorrow Studios’ Marty Adelstein (Hanna, Prison Break: The Final Break) and Becky Clements (Snowpiercer, Cowboy Bebop) who executive produce in collaboration with ITV Studios. Alissa Bachner (Detroit 1-8-7, Physical) is listed as a co-executive producer, while Bichir is attached to produce.
Let The Right One In is just one new vampire novel coming to television within the next year. Ann Rice’s (The Witching Hour, The Vampire Lestat) Interview with the Vampire, which was adapted to film in 1994, will premiere in 2022 on AMC. And Netflix is currently filming V.E. Schawb’s (A Darke Shade of Magic, Vengeful) teen drama, First Kill.