Those with a fear of cleanliness and those metropolitan playthings some call rats may want to steer clear of the horrors that unfurl themselves in Guillermo del Toro’s latest, a TV series for FX called The Strain. Because the scariest sight to see in the promo is just that: rats. Hide your garbage, folks.
And not even the really scary kind: these are perfectly clean-looking, healthy, and well-trained rats that seem to only run around and well-formed clusters, easy to avoid. As any New Yorker (or former, in this instance) will tell you, these rats are the least-scary looking rats out there, so we’re a bit befuddled as to what sort of terror they are meant to strike.
Are they vampire rats? The series — slated to premiere in July 2014 — is said to center around a mysterious viral outbreak that has all the markings of an ancient and evil (say it with us now: eeeeeeeeeviiiiiiil) disease that apparently proliferates vampirism.
Based on a series of novels written by del Toro and Chuck Hogan, the FX drama stars House of Cards’ Corey Stoll, Mia Maestro, Sean Astin, Kevin Durand, and Game of Thrones’ very own Walder Frey, David Bradley. The Strain tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Stoll), a Center for Disease Control employee in charge of the unenviable task of investigating said creepy outbreak.
Must be that those old wives’ tales about bats being the carrier for vampirism were merely a red herring: rats are the culprit, you see. Rats! Perhaps that’s why they call New York the city that never sleeps: they don’t sleep in New York because everyone is a vampire, forced to live their lives only at night (…actually, that could feasibly work quite well. Wait a second!), put upon by those blood-sucking super-rodents hellbent on turning everyone into vessels of garlic and stake-ridden fear. That’s how they get you, you know: misinformation. Damn you, you tricky vampires! Always trying to throw us off your trail. We’re onto you this time, though! (Well, maybe.)
Jokes aside, the series must be somewhat impressive, as FX has already given it a 13-episode order, and the production has only just begun this month.
According to The Wrap, everyone working on the project is atwitter at the chance to geek out with del Toro, including executive producer Carlton Cuse (Lost). “Working with visionary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and the team at FX has been a dream come true for me,” Cuse stated. “Guillermo’s epic, cinematic pilot for The Strain starts a chilling and compelling story that will upend everything you thought you knew about vampires.”
“The Strain books are near and dear to my heart and now,Chuck and I have the blessing of a partnership with Carlton and FX that holds great promise,” del Toro said. “Working with FX has yielded an amazing experience with total creative freedom and support.”
Either way: rats. Rats are happening.
The Strain hits FX’s airwaves in July of 2014, so you have time to stock up on rodenticide.
