A new promo for The Strain season 4 focuses on a fireside chat that takes an unexpected turn. After three seasons of desperately battling the forces of The Master and his ancient vampire plague, Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his ragtag group of apocalypse survivors are soon finally set to reach the end of their quest in FX's fourth and final season of The Strain. It's a been a rocky road so far, with season 3's finale seeing New York City sustain literally nuclear bomb-level damage, thanks to Eph's endlessly selfish son Zach.
As one might imagine on a show about a vampire plague, many friends and family members of the hero group have fallen by the wayside over time, either by succumbing to the contagion itself or meeting their demise the old-fashioned way. These victims include Eph's former colleague Jim Kent (Sean Astin), his love interest Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro), and ex-wife Kelly (Natalie Brown), among many others.
One person who's managed to avoid death and/or infection by The Master so far is Professor Abraham Sektrakian (David Bradley), an aging vampire - or strigoi - hunter that's been following The Master's trail of destruction for many decades. Unfortunately, the latest promo for The Strain season 4 - entitled The Fireside Chat - teases that Setrakian's track record of staying alive may be coming to a horrifying end, in the form of a deadly encounter between the professor and his comrade Fet (Kevin Durand). Check it out above.
While at first glance it appears that Setrakian has been infected, there are many possible ways to interpret the above clip. For one, it seems unlikely that FX would spoil the fate of such an important character in a promo, making one wonder what exactly the context of the clip is. Perhaps the easiest answer to that question is that the clip is simply taken from a nightmare sequence that either Abraham or Fet is having. Sure, that would be kind of a cheat, but marketing departments have never been known for their unimpeachable honesty.
That said, there could very well be a non-dream sequence answer too. It's been known since early in the series that part of the reason Sektrakian is even still alive to hunt The Master is that he regularly gives himself "treatments" of the strigoi's blood, referred to as "the white." Perhaps Setrakian finally miscalculated the dose, and ended up infected? It's certainly possible, especially considering all the stress he's been under. Either way, fans will find out the truth when The Strain returns this summer.
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The Strain season 4 premieres Sunday, July 16 on FX.
Source: FX