NBC’s Dracula TV Series Casts Its Van Helsing and Harker

The main cast of NBC’s Dracula TV series is complete with the hiring of actors to take on the roles of Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker. Dracula has already been given a 10-episode straight-to-series order, with Carnivale’s Dan Knauf serving as the showrunner and head writer for the series.

“It centers on Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who arrives in London posing as American entrepreneur Alan Grayson, who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier, but he falls hopelessly in love with a woman who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.”

As you can tell from the synopsis above, this is not a straight adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel and we've included details on most of the characters below. According to Deadline, Thomas Kretschmann (Wanted, Dracula 3D) will be playing Abraham Van Helsing, ".. a brilliant professor with a seemingly cool exterior whose obsession with revenge and power may make him a more dangerous threat to the public than Dracula himself."

Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Raven) has been cast as Jonathan Harker, who is described in this version as "a tenacious and slightly gauche journalist desperate to climb the ranks of aristocracy — and stay there."

Jessica De Gouw (Arrow) is Mina, a “striking medical student who is engaged to Jonathan Harker but upon meeting Grayson both are instantly mesmerized by the other’s uncanny resemblance to someone from their past.”

Katie McGrath will play Lucy Westenra, “aristocratic London’s sexy, social butterfly and Mina’s best friend who has a penchant for gossip, flirting and all things glamorous.”

Nonso Anozie (The Grey) has been hired to play R.M. Renfield, but we don't know how he'll differ from the novel at this time. For now, he’s only being described as “Alan Grayson’s fiercely loyal confidante.” With the main cast complete, we'll start to hear more about the series in the coming months. NBC has yet to set a premiere date, but we'll let readers know as soon as anything is official.