Guillermo del Toro’s vampire series The Strain will be 5 seasons max

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The next big horror TV series to come down the pike is Guillermo del Toro’s “The Strain”, a vampire epic based on the trilogy of novels written by del Toro and Chuck Hogan. We’ve seen lots of casting updates recently for the epic show, which is hoping to be the next “Walking Dead”.

Today, FX CEO John Landgraf let it be known that the series will limit itself to the book trilogy, hence it won’t go past 5 seasons at the most. “39-65 episodes, no less, no more,” Landgraf said at Television Critics Association panel, adding “What if a television show could be just the length that is optimal for that story?”

It’s a great way to go into a series, having an endgame in mind. (Although of course “Lost” purported to, and we all know how that turned out.) That said, “The Strain” doesn’t even have a series commitment from FX, just a pilot. Deadline notes that a series pickup is a formality, so there’s little doubt that we’ll see a full season of the show next year.

“The Strain” stars Corey Stoll, Sean Astin, Kevin Durand, John Hurt, Doug Jones, Mía Maestro, Jonathan Hyde, Robert Maillet, Roger Cross, Leslie Hope and Richard Sammel. Del Toro is directing the pilot, which reportedly shoots next month in Toronto.

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

Mia Maestro