Last year it was announced that FX had begun developing an adaptation of Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain, about our culture’s pained exertion to fit in one more vampire project. As of today, all that forcing through has paid off with a 13-episode order for the series, with del Toro serving as executive producer alongside Chuck Hogan, who co-wrote the trilogy of novels it’s based on, and Carlton Cuse, who just sort of magically appears whenever you say the words "supernatural drama."As previously reported, House Of Cards breakout Corey Stoll will enter a new world of parasites as Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, mankind’s only hope against a powerful new virus and the vampires it creates—vampires who are temporarily delayed by asking, “’Ephraim Goodweather?’ Seriously?” and thus giving him a fighting chance.
According to Deadline, filming is set to begin this month for a July 2014 premiere, after a replacement is found for John Hurt, who played the aging vampire hunter Professor Setrakian in the pilot, but faced scheduling issues with the show’s production schedule. And given what FX president John Landgraf said at the TCAs, that could definitely be a long one: The hope is The Strain will run for at least three to five seasons, by which time America may well have moved on to a new hot fad, like garbage monsters. (“I may be a monster made out of garbage, but don’t throw away my heart”—the dangerous yet sexy Count Von Usedtampons.)