The first trailer for Underworld: Blood Wars has finally arrived! In Anna Foerster's directorial debut, Charles Dance returns as the vampire elder Thomas, who also happens to be the father of Selene’s (Kate Beckinsale) ally, David (Theo James). Newcomers include Tobias Menzies (Outlander) as Maurius “a formidable new Lycan leader,” and Lara Pulver (Da Vinci’s Demons) as Semira “a fiercely ambitious vampire,” along with James Faulkner (Da Vinci’s Demons), Peter Andersson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Bradley James (Merlin), Daisy Head (The Syndicate) as Alexia, and newcomer Clementine Nicholson as Lena.

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Image via Sony

As one could likely gather, there's a whole lot of story going on here but the trailer thankfully keeps to what we've come to expect from the Underworld franchise, which is a lot of vampires and werewolves beating the bejesus out of each other, or simply murdering one another. There's a lot of flying weaponry, glowing blue eyes, and CGI-heavy action going on here and honestly, that's for the better. The reason that these films have so often disappointed is because they insist on shoving sprawling yet familiar backstories and non-stop platitudes in between all the chaos. As if audiences are really interested in Selene's love life or family history when she's capping several dozen werewolves within a few minutes. With this fifth installment in the franchise, there looks to be hope that the dramatic nonsense will be tampered down for a no-frills action bonanza. Fingers crossed!

Underworld: Blood Wars will arrive in theaters nationwide on January 6th.


Check out the first trailer for Underworld: Blood Wars below, followed by a Facebook Live video from Beckinsale in which she reveals some tidbits about the film:

For more on all things Underworld, be sure to check out our latest write-ups:

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Image via Sony
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Image via Sony