Dracula (2013, TV series)

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Dracula is a 2013 British/American NBC series television drama produced by London based shingle Carnival Films. The show was created by Cole Haddon, and is a loose re-imagining of the classic Dracula novel by Bram Stoker. Dan Knauf, creator of the HBO series Carnivàle, is showrunner/head writer, working with Haddon. Principal filming took place in Budapest, and the series premiered on Friday, October 25

Dracula comes to London, posing as an American entrepreneur who wants to bring modern science to the Victorian city. In reality, Dracula seeks revenge on those who betrayed him centuries earlier. As Dracula’s plans move toward fruition, he falls hopelessly in love with a woman who may be a reincarnation of his deceased wife.

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Haddon directed the pilot episode. Other episodes were directed by Andy Goddard (Downton Abbey, Law & Order: UK) and Steve Shill (Dexter, Law & Order: Criminal Intent). Dracula stars:

Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Dracula / Alexander Grayson

Jessica De Gouw as Mina Murray

Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Jonathan Harker, a gauche journalist

Katie McGrath as Lucy Westenra

Nonso Anozie as R.M. Renfield, Dracula’s loyal confidante

Victoria Smurfit as Lady Jane, a fashionable woman

Thomas Kretschmann as Abraham Van Helsing (Kretschmann previously played Dracula in Dario Argtento’s 2012 Italian horror film, Dracula 3D)

Michael Nardone as Hermann Kruger

“It’s a reasonably clever conceit in terms of exploiting the character’s name while erecting the scaffolding to support serialized intrigue. And if the inordinately crimson-drenched doings threaten to become strained over a long haul, in the short term, anyway, Dracula is pretty tasty. … Like Hannibal (another NBC drama built around an antihero with a peculiar diet), this series pushes boundaries in terms of gore, torture and sex, flourishes that feel both organic and perhaps a bit less jarring given the fantastic setting and situations.” Brian Lowry, Variety

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“It’s a good job Jonathan Rhys Meyers is so well cast as Dracula. He’s naturally pale skinned, possesses a rakish, old-fashioned charm and hasn’t aged a day since 1997. Dracula’s anti-hero appeal is key to every good adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel – it’s about the only thing this one shares with the original – but must the rest of the characters be quite so insipid by comparison?” Ellen E. Jones, The Independent

“I never thought any show about a dude tries to buy a coolant company would be so interesting, let alone a show ostensibly about Dracula where Dracula is more worried about business than drinking blood. And he’s having sex with a vampire slayer. And also he’s trying to destroy the nascent oil industry. But here it is, and it’s just captivating.” Rob Bricken, io9.com

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“Strip away the name and this is the story of a man trying to tear apart an oil monopoly, which makes Dracula every bit as scary and sexy as the Sherman Antitrust Act.” Daniel Fienberg, Hit Fix

“Unfortunately, they didn’t scramble into something thoughtfully new and unique. There’s nothing overtly bad about the first two episodes of Dracula, but neither was there anything compelling. Dracula as badass rooftop fighter? Sure, fine. He mauls necks into a bloody mess? OK. But with Fox’s Sleepy Hollow and AMC’s The Walking Dead delivering thrills along those lines with more inspired storytelling, it’s not like viewers will be left wanting.” Tim Goodman, Hollywood Reporter

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