Guillermo Del Toro spills some bloody details regarding his upcoming FX series The Strain

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Guillermo Del Toro’s trilogy of novels are coming to FX as a series and the man himself lent some details as to how he sees THE STRAIN coming together visually.

For those that have read the novels, you know it is a modern day take on the Dracula story with a Michael Crichton/ANDROMEDA STRAIN mentality. Del Toro and Chuck Hogan wrote the books, which were originally pitched as a television series. Now, with THE WALKING DEAD such a big hit, FX is getting in on the apocalyptic horror series trend.

Del Toro, who says he will direct the pilot of THE STRAIN, spoke to MTV and had this to share.

“Basically I’m trying to do what I do in my movies which is to show it as a reality, but as a reality that is stylized. It’s not like “CSI” or “The Wire,” it’s real but it feels a little stylized. But the way the camera work will be is very realistic. We want to keep the camera very documentary even if the look of the show is not. The look of the show is very designed. The style of the camera and the storytelling will be very loose.”

Hopefully by setting the tone by helming the first episode, Del Toro can set up the visual universe for those who take over the rest of the season. Either way, I want to know if we can expect the violence to utilize the TV-MA rating it will most likely get as an FX series.

“It will certainly be brutal,” said Del Toro. “We are a TV show, we are restrained about how much human gore we can show, but we will be pretty brutal. If you read the novels and you read the comic, there are very, very harrowing human dynamics in the 3 books. Because the vampires in the books, the first people they want to kill are the people they love, so that’s gonna be pretty hardcore [laughs].”

Awesome. That is what wanted to hear. THE STRAIN has no current premiere date, but expect it to be advertised like crazy when it does.