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Van Helsing TV series is gender-swapped and futuristic - SciFiNow

Van Helsing TV series is gender-swapped and futuristic

Vanessa Helsing will slay vampires in the future at SyFy

We’ve been hearing about a Van Helsing reboot for what seems like forever, and now the character is finally coming back, in a slightly different form: Vanessa Helsing.

THR reports that SyFy and writer-director Neil LaBute (who’s responsible for excellent films like The Company Of Men, The Shape Of Things, Your Friends And Neighbours and, to be fair, The Wicker Man remake), are working on Vanessa Helsing,a  TV show that will gender swap the character and put her five years in the future.

“In this new interpretation, the central character is now a female, Vanessa Helsing, the next in a lineage of warriors who must lead mankind against a world controlled by vampires. When Vanessa is resurrected five years in the future, she learns vampires have taken over the world and that she possesses unique power over them. She is essentially humanity’s last hope to lead an offensive to take back what has been lost.”

The show will be made up of 13 episodes, and will shoot in January for a late 2016 air date.

LaBute is producing with Simon Barry (Continuum), as well as Evan Tyler, Dave Brown and Daniel March, and Nomadic Pictures’ Chad Oakes and Mike Frisley, who worked on Fargo.

“I am extremely excited to be working with Syfy and Nomadic Pictures to create a unique, character-driven action series that will move the traditional vampire tropes into bold and unexpected new territories,” LaBute told Variety. “This is a wonderful chance for us to forge great stories and unforgettable characters and throw them into a world where the stakes — both dramatic and personal — are tremendously high. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with Chad and Mike at Nomadic again and with Chris Regina at Syfy. The combination of all of us on this project together is going to be combustible. I hope we rip the doors off this genre week after week.”

Van Helsing represents a new mythology in sci-fi by challenging traditional vampire rules,” added Nomadic Pictures’ ” The series is unique in exploring a world completely dominated by vampires, while the human characters have to learn the importance of working together to ensure their survival. Mike and I are thrilled to team up once again with the talented Neil LaBute to deliver an amazing series.”

The last time we saw Van Helsing on the big screen, he was played by Hugh Jackman in Stephen Sommers’ risible 2004 action movie. With the setting as described, we’re guessing that Vanessa Helsing will go for an action adventure route over horror.

We’re very interested to see who gets cast…

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