“The Strain”, it would appear, was a puzzling
labour of love for director/writer Guillermo del Toro. In 2006 he put the idea
for a vampire TV series to producers, but it wasn’t picked up. Not to be
deterred, del Toro recruited Chuck Hogan, an author with a strong orientation
towards screenplay writing, to write a trilogy of novels. I confess to not
having read the novels or much into the background of The Strain prior to watching the TV series. I am currently watching
the second season, neatly based on the second novel. The third season is out
next year, which might only take in half the final part. Del Toro believes that
two seasons would do the third novel the most justice, but he is also open to
divergences for the benefit of a successful adaptation. One cannot help but
read that as his hope to keep the franchise going as long as possible.
