The Last Voyage of the Demeter almost included a Van Helsing cameo

“You’ve become part of a bigger universe. You just don’t know it yet. “While speaking with Syfy Wire, producer Bradley J. Fischer revealed that The Last Voyage of the Demeter almost ended with a cameo from Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

“We went through a lot of different approaches to the story, but nothing that was wildly different than the movie that we ended up with,” Fischer explained. “We actually had one ending for quite a while. The scene in the tavern was Clemens [Corey Hawkins] being approached by a strange, shadowy dude, who starts talking to him, seems to have some knowledge of the experiences that he went through, and introduces himself as Van Helsing. Then we kind of left it there.“

Van Helsing cameo or not, The Last Voyage of the Demeter was not the success it should have been. After spending two decades in development hell, the film received mixed reviews upon release and grossed just $21.8 million, making it a genuine box-office bomb. There are plenty of directions the story could go in a sequel, but Fischer said they aren’t talking about a follow-up at this time. “We had two Dracula movies this year, so clearly, there’s a lot of imagination out there, running through the heads of creatives about what you can do with that character and story,” he said. “[Robert Eggers’] Nosferatu is also coming out next year. So no, we haven’t really talked about continuing Clemens’ story specifically. But the Dracula novel is so epic and there’s so much story there … I’m sure that there will be more Dracula-inspired stories and narratives that end up being committed to screen.“

“Strange and horrifying events befall the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage from Transylvania to London, stalked each night by a merciless presence onboard the ship: a legendary vampire known as Dracula,” reads the official synopsis. “When the Demeter finally arrives off the shores of England, it is a charred, derelict wreck. There is no trace of the crew.“

You can check out a review of The Last Voyage of the Demeter from our own Jessica Dwyer right here.