FX CEO John Landgraf Says Guillermo del Toro's THE STRAIN Will Be "Between 39 And 65 Episodes"
There's a very clear plan in place for FX's small screen adaptation of Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's trilogy of vampire novels, and FX CEO John Landgraf has revealed a lot of new details.
The Strain is a 2009 vampire horror novel which was written by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. This was followed by The Fall and The Night Eternal. While it was originally envisioned as a television series, del Toro's inability to find a buyer led him to adapting it into this trilogy of novels and later a Dark Horse graphic novel. Well, work is now finally moving ahead on a small screen adaptation, with the Pacific Rim helmer set to direct the first episode. Talking at the TCA press tour this week, FX CEO John Landgraf was asked how graphic the show will be. "It’s pretty graphic. It’s a horror show. I think you can expect content commensurate with The Walking Dead or American Horror Story." As for how the network is planning on adapting the trilogy, he make it clear that they have a very clear plan in mind and have already set out a specific number of episodes in order to faithfully adapt the story and NOT drag it out unnecessarily. "It’s a trilogy, and the trilogy ends the story. It’s a truly epic story. And when Guillermo [del Toro] came in to sell it, one of the things they made clear is that they wanted to tell the story of the books. That story would be told over three, four or five seasons. They have work to do, in terms of figuring out how they are going to resituate that story, in an episodic television series, but it will be somewhere between 39 and 65 episodes. No less and no more, and I’m really excited about that." Del Toro has so far assembled an impressive cast which includes Corey Stoll, John Hurt, Kevin Durand, Mía Maestro, Sean Astin, Robert Maillet and Doug Jones. It's believed that the first season has already been picked up for a 13-episode run.