Peacock’s adaptation of Vampire Academy, the hit young adult novel series by Richelle Mead, has set its main cast, and they’re sure to be a real scream. Produced by Universal Television, the ten-episode series is adapted, written, and executive produced by Marguerite MacIntyre and Julie Plec — creator of The Vampire Diaries, appropriately — with Plec also set to direct for the series.
The story of two young women entering royal vampire society — one of them half-human — Vampire Academy has cast a number of upcoming actors, including Mortal Kombat's Sisi Stringer as Rose Hathaway, the fiery, half-human protagonist; Daniela Nieves as Lissa Dragomir, Rose’s best friend and a royal Moroi vampire; Kieron Moore as Dimitri Belikov, a guardian to the Moroi; André Dae Kim as Christian Oreza, another Moroi vampire; and J. August Richards as Victor Dashkov, a Moroi with a heart of gold.
Also announced as part of the main cast are Anita-Joy Uwajeh (Tatiana Vogel), Mia McKenna-Bruce (Mia Karp), Rhian Blundell (Meredith), Jonetta Kaiser (Sonya), and Andrew Liner (Mason Ashford). Each new cast member will be integral in telling the story of St. Vladmir’s Academy, the school where royal vampires are educated, and half-human Dhampirs are trained to protect them from the savage Strigoi that lie beyond the school’s walls.
Peacock’s upcoming show is not the first time the Vampire Academy books have been adapted for the screen — the series was adapted for film in 2014, with a movie of the same name starring Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, and Dominic Sherwood, though it received poor reviews and ultimately lost any chance of a sequel. Hopefully, Peacock’s new series will have just a bit more bite — pun very much intended — to give us a better peek into the world of St. Vladmir’s and the pupils within it.
Vampire Academy is executive produced by Plec and MacIntyre, alongside producers Emily Cummins, Don Murphy, Susan Montford, Deepak Nayar, and Jillian DeFrehn. Plec, Bille Woodruff, Luis Prieto, Jesse Warn, Erica Dunton, and Geoff Shotz are set to direct the series, and no release date has been announced. Here's the official series synopsis:
From executive producer Julie Plec comes a story of romance, friendship, death, sex, and scandal. Vampire Academy is based on a series of young adult paranormal romance novels by international bestselling author Richelle Mead. In a world of privilege and glamour, two young women’s friendship transcends their strikingly different classes as they prepare to complete their education and enter royal vampire society. This serialized and sexy drama combines the elegance of aristocratic romance and the supernatural thrills of the vampire genre.