The cast for Peacock's Vampire Academy series has been revealed. The show is adapted from the series of young adult paranormal romance novels written by Richelle Mead, which follows two young women who comes from very different backgrounds as they attend a school that educates vampire royalty. The series will be produced by Universal Television for the studio's Peacock streaming service.
Vampire Academy follows Rose Hathaway, a vampire-human hybrid, and Royal Moroi vampire heir Lissa Dragomir, through their studies at St Vladimir's Academy. Half-human teens such as Rose are taught to protect the royal vampires from Strigoi, savage beings who seek to destroy the academy's students. The series was announced by Peacock in May, with The Vampire Diaries creator Julia Plec writing and executive producing the ten-episode series alongside actress and longtime collaborator, Marguerite MacIntyre.
In a press release, Peacock revealed the cast of series regulars, including who will play the leading roles, along with a description of the series. According to the network, the Vampire Academy series is "a story of romance, friendship, death, sex, and scandal" that "combines the elegance of aristocratic romance and the supernatural thrills of the vampire genre." The role of Rose will be taken on by Sisi Stringer (Moral Kombat), while Daniela Nieves (Sex Appeal, Five Points) will play Lissa and Kieron Moore (Sex Education) will play Dimitri Belikov. Check out the rest of the lead cast list below.
André Dae Kim (Degrassi, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) will play Christian Ozera.
J. August Richards (Angel, Generation) will play Victor Dashkov.
Anita-Joy Uwajeh (West End’s Cyrano de Bergerac and King Lear), will play Tatiana Vogel.
Mia Mckenna-Bruce (West End’s Billy Elliot The Musical, The Dumping Ground) will play Mia Karp.
Rhian Blundell (Torchwood: Believe, Doctor Who: The Dread of Night) will play Meredith.
Jonetta Kaiser (Tales, Breakwater) will play Sonya Karp.
Andrew Liner (Grown-ish) will play Mason Ashford.
The series isn't the first adaptation of the Vampire Academy series, as the novels previously received a film adaptation that was released in 2014. However, the film was both a financial and critical failure, with Screen Rant's own review stating it would like seem like "yet another inoffensive, yet instantly disposable addition to the growing pile of cheap YA movie adaptations that've been released in recent years," to anyone but true fans of the books. Despite the previous adaptation's shortcomings, it is evident that Plec intends to give Vampire Academy a fresh start with this upcoming series. In a statement alongside the initial announcement, Plec said, "When I signed my new deal with Universal Television, they asked what project I had always been dying to make and my immediate answer was Vampire Academy."
Vampire Academy will join the rest of NBCUniversal's offerings on the Peacock streaming service, which is home to shows such as the upcoming Joe Exotic limited drama series, as well as iconic fan favourites like The Office and Parks and Recreation. Though there is still no confirmed release date, the reveal of the show's cast is sure to get fans of Vampire Academy excited as they are given a glimpse of who will be portraying the books' beloved cast. And given Plec's clear passion for the project, it seems that the show is in the best possible hands.
Source: Peacock