You'll want to sink your teeth into this update!
Vampires were just about everywhere in the mid '00s: The Twilight franchise dominated the box office, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries aired on television and teens devoured the Vampire Academy book series. However, at a certain point, Hollywood's obsession with vampires began to wane. For instance, even TVD's first spinoff The Originals ended its run in 2018 after five seasons.
Yet, just when we thought true crime documentaries would be the obsession of now, American Horror Story and Midnight Mass have proven that blood-sucking characters still have a place in TV. We first spotted the return of vampires in part one of American Horror Story's 10th season.
In the new episodes, author Harry Gardner (Finn Wittrock) has his writer's block cured thanks to a performance enhancing drug, named the Muse. The only downside? The pill gives Harry an insatiable hunger for blood, forcing him to feed on Cape Cod locals.
Although AHS never calls Harry and his fellow blood-sucking writers—played by Frances Conroy and Evan Peters—vampires, it's easily implied, especially after they have their teeth grinded down into fangs.
Similarly, Midnight Mass never utters the word vampire when introducing the blood-thirsty angel that transforms Monsignor Pruitt (Hamish Linklater) into his younger self. Specifically, the "Angel" drains the devout old priest of blood, only to then save him by feeding the Father supernatural blood.
This encounter returns the priest to his youth, but leaves Monsignor Pruitt with a hankering for human blood and unable to go in sunlight. That's textbook vampire, right?
So, perhaps the vampires featured in your favorite teen shows and novels aren't making a comeback, but elevated takes on the undead are popping up in pop culture. We mean, we're pretty convinced that the reported True Blood reboot might actually happen if this vampire trend continues.
Fingers crossed that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reimagining finds itself in the works somewhere! A TV journalist can dream, right?
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