Long before the season finale of The Strain — a unique, chilling examination of vampirism as a contagion based on Guillermo de Toro’s and Chuck Hogan’s trilogy of novels — had aired this past fall, it had become one of the FX Network’s most popular series, scoring an estimated 12.7 viewers for its July 13, 2014 premiere episode. The series was so popular that halfway through its inaugural season, the cable channel announced it has been already renewed for a second.
“I am thrilled, another season to spread the virus,” del Toro, joked at the time. “Working with (producer) Carlton Cuse, Chuck and FX has been immensely rewarding and we have such sights to unveil in the upcoming episodes — the blood hits the fan on this one, mankind becomes an endangered species.”
Today, FX released a sneak peak teaser for Season Two of The Strain:
For the handful of you who were not infected by the series, in a few short, measured words, The Strain is a high concept thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll), the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team, portrayed by actors Mia Maestro and Sean Astin (who was killed in Season One) are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, including city pest controller Vasily Fet (Kevin Durand) and the mysterious “pawnbroker” Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley), begin to wage a war — led by former Nazi Thomas Eichhorst (Richard Samuel) — against a plague that appears to be infecting everyone. Ultimately, Dr. Goodweather and his team end up battling for the fate of humanity itself.
Producers Carlton Cuse and del Toro explained, at the commencement of Season One, that they planned on presenting the story of The Strain trilogy over five seasons…period. “I think one of the things that we made essential when we pitched the series everywhere, and certainly at FX, is we came in and we said we are not going to be extending beyond — we presented two arcs, one that can fulfill three or four seasons, and hopefully the second or third book are complex enough that they can generate a fifth one” del Toro explained. —But we literally said it needs to end when it needs to end, and that was a central part of finding a home for the series.”
While del Toro said that all five seasons of his television adaptation of The Strain, The Fall and The Night Eternal will remain faithful to the novels, fans can expect a few surprises from the series. “It was very clear from the start that we had the three books to plunder, but we also had the chance of inventing,” del Toro explained. “We talked about milestones, that we want the milestones and the characters that are in the book to be hit, but with that it became very malleable. Carlton decided, I think very wisely in retrospect…it made perfect sense as a game plan to, for example, leave the origins of The Master — which we opened book one with, for the second season. For example, we will bring a set piece from book two to bookend the story of one character on Season One. So, it’s a very elastic relationship that the series has with the book, but by that same token it’s very respectful and mindful of the things that will not alienate someone that likes the books. It should feel as seamless. And I think the decisions we have to understand when Carlton is guiding us through this new medium for the story, to trust and know that his decisions are guided by huge experience and a prestigious career.”
If you haven’t caught up on Season One of The Strain, there’s still time. It’s available of DVD/Blu-ray and on various On Demand and streaming services. There is a reason why it is already a hit. According to actor Sean Astin, who portrayed the late Jim Kent in Season One, The Strain is not your typical vampire or epidemic of the week kind of series.
“There are all these apocalyptic franchises now and the question becomes how accessible and how authentic they really are,” Astin said. “If you can really feel like, ‘What would it be like if I was in that situation, if the power went out or if the grid went out or if there’s some terrorist event or some plague – the bubonic plague or Ebola?’ If you’re going to use a vampire story as a metaphor for that, you want to find ways into it that feel natural. If you can make that feel real, you have something special.”
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