Get ready to sink your teeth into your latest TV obsession.
Peacock is kicking off spooky season a little early with the premiere of the brand-new series Vampire Academy, which premieres Thursday, Sept. 15 on the NBCUniversal streaming service.
Based on the book series of the same name by Richelle Mead, the mystical series follows two girls—one a Royal vampire and the other her half-vamp protector—as they navigate friendships, romances and typical teen problems, all while dealing with a larger threat to vampire society.
On the surface, the show may seem like another vampire teen show (à la The Vampire Diaries or First Kill), but cast member André Dae Kim teased that fans should expect the unexpected. He exclusively told E! News at 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, "If you're coming into this thinking it's gonna be one type of genre, you might be a little surprised, I think pleasantly surprised."
Ahead of the show's upcoming premiere, we're breaking down everything you need to know about Vampire Academy, from which TVD creators are at the helm to the show's different kinds of vampires to how it differs from the books.
Vampire Academy premieres Thursday, Sept. 15 on Peacock.
The first four episodes of Vampire Academy premiere Thursday, September 15 on Peacock, with the remaining six premiering weekly on Thursdays.
According to the streamer, the series follows the friendship of two young women "as they prepare to complete their education and enter vampire society. One as a powerful Royal, the other a half-vampire Guardian trained to protect against the savage 'Strigoi' who threaten to tear their society apart. That is, if Royal infighting doesn't do the job first."
The show is based on the bestselling book series of the same name by author Richelle Mead. The first, titled Vampire Academy, was published in 2007, with the sixth and final installment, Last Sacrifice, published in 2010.
The Peacock series marks the second live-action adaptation of the book series, as the story received the movie treatment in 2014 and starred Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry and Dominic Sherwood.
Sisi Stringer and Daniela Nieves star as the best friends at the center of the story, half-vamp Guardian Rose Hathaway and Royal vampire Lissa Dragomir, respectively. The main cast also includes Kieron Moore as Guardian trainer Dimitri Belikov and André Dae Kim as vampire Christian Ozera.
Additional cast members include J. August Richards as Victor Dashkov, Anita-Joy Uwajeh as Tatiana Vogel, Mia Mckenna-Bruce as Mia Karp, Rhian Blundell as Meredith, Jonetta Kaiser as Sonya Karp and Andrew Liner as Mason Ashford.
The cast also includes a star-studded lineup of guest stars (check out the full list here), including The White Lotus' Leo Woodall as fan-favorite character Adrian Ivashkov.
Julie Plec—aka the woman behind The Vampire Diaries—serves as a co-creator, showrunner, writer and executive producer on the series with former TVD star Marguerite MacIntyre (aka Sheriff Forbes). MacIntyre also worked with Plec on The CW show's two spin-offs, The Originals and Legacies.
Additional executive producers include Emily Cummins, Don Murphy, Susan Montford, Deepak Nayar and Jillian DeFrehn. The first episode is directed by Bille Woodruff, with Luis Prieto, Jesse Warn, Erica Dunton, Geoff Shotz and Plec also serving as directors.
During an interview with E! News at 2022 Comic-Con, Stringer teased that the show is a "modern adaptation" of the books, saying, "We've changed a few things, and it's not gonna be exactly the same, but I think we've stayed true to the characters and the relationships, which is where the story is."
But the star knows that fans of the books "are going to be satisfied" with the series. As she told E! News, "I know it's important to all of us to make sure that the fans are happy, and like I said, I really think they will be."
While most people are familiar with what a typical vampire is (hates garlic and sunlight, etc.), multiple different kinds of the blood-sucking creatures exist in the Vampire Academy universe.
For starters, there's the Morai: pureblooded vampires (like Lissa) who are not only mortal but can also wield magic. Then there are Dhampirs (like Rose) who are the half-Morai, half-human protectors of the Morai.
Last but not least, we have the villainous and immortal vampires called the Strigoi. The best way to defeat them? Expose them to sunlight.
(E! and Peacock are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)