Let The Right One In Gets A Series Order At Showtime

Showtime is officially opening the door to a new vampire series.

The premium cable channel has given a series order to "Let the Right One In," a television adaptation of the Swedish novel and its spectacular 2008 film adaptation. (The story was also remade as an American movie called "Let Me In" in 2010, directed by "The Batman" filmmaker Matt Reeves.) Showtime has ordered ten episodes of this new show, which will begin production in New York City sometime in early 2022.

Oscar-nominated actor Demián Bichir ("A Better Life") plays the lead role, and the series also stars Tony winner Anika Noni Rose ("Dreamgirls," "Power"), Grace Gummer ("Frances Ha"), Madison Taylor Baez ("Selena: The Series"), Kevin Carroll ("The Leftovers"), Ian Foreman ("Merry Wish-Mas") and Jacob Buster ("Colony"). Andrew Hinderaker ("Penny Dreadful") wrote the pilot and will serve as showrunner. He'll executive produce alongside Seith Mann ("Homeland"), who directed the pilot and will get behind the camera again for future episodes.

Here's the official description of the new adaptation:

Inspired by the original hit Swedish novel and film, the series centers on Mark (Bichir) and his daughter Eleanor (Baez) whose lives were changed forever 10 years earlier when she was turned into a vampire. Locked in at age 12, perhaps forever, Eleanor lives a closed-in life, able to go out only at night, while her father does his best to provide her with the human blood she needs to stay alive. With these emotionally charged and terrifying ingredients as a starting point, Let The Right One In will upend genre expectations, turning a naturalistic lens on human frailty, strength and compassion.

To me, there are two aspects of that synopsis that immediately grabbed my attention. The first is how it promises to "upend genre expectations." Since the original film upended what audiences expected from a vampire film when it was released more than a decade ago, is this new TV adaptation going to upend our expectations again, in a totally different way? Perhaps the very act of focusing on "human frailty, strength, and compassion" is enough to clear that bar.

I'm also intrigued by the idea that the plot described here is just a "starting point" for the events of this show. Both the original movie and the 2010 remake "Let Me In" essentially told the same story: a young boy befriends a seemingly young girl and soon discovers that she is actually an ageless vampire. The twists in the plot lead to one of the most memorable cinematic death scenes of this century so far, as well as an ending which, on the surface, seems to be a happy one, but is actually quite tragic. Could the events of the movie be covered in just a few episodes of this new show? Then the rest of the season could continue the story beyond the audience's knowledge, taking us into new realms and exploring different aspects of the character dynamics not seen on screen before. 

Since the original film and its remake were both so good, we're hoping this project continues that hot streak with this material. Stay tuned for more about "Let the Right One In" as we learn it.