A few years ago, the big-screen adaptation of Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy YA series landed in theaters. But it landed with a loud thud. But hey, 2014 might as well have been 1914 in pop culture terms. Time for a do-over! The Vampire Academy series is now getting a straight-to-series order at the Peacock streaming service. We finally have a release date for the series, not to mention our full Vampire Academy trailer.
Vampire Academy’s Trailer
The synopsis for the show shares:
Lissa, a Royal vampire, and her best friend and protector, Rose, navigate romance, class politics, and ancient magic at their boarding school for vampires. When a mysterious bond develops between the two friends, they must work together to decipher it, all while facing threats inside the gates and out, including the bloodthirsty and undead Strigoi. Based on the international best-selling series from Richelle Mead.
The trailer’s description additionally notes:
From executive producers Julie Plec & Marguerite MacIntyre comes a story of friendship, romance and danger. In a world of privilege and glamour, two young women’s friendship transcends their strikingly different classes 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.
We see all of this play out in The Vampire Academy‘s trailer. It looks like we are absolutely in for more YA vampire fun. And judging by everything we’ve learned about it so far, it’s time to start seriously anticipating the series, which releases on September 15.
Vampire Academy‘s Cast, Crew, and More
Someone who knows a thing or two about bloodsuckers is giving the series new life. Peacock is teaming up with executive producer Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals) for the Vampire Academy‘s second time at bat. (See what we did there?) Also working on the series is Marguerite MacIntyre. She too is a veteran of the Vampire Diaries spin-off Legacies.
Vampire Academy will have ten 60-minute episodes. And we know who will play some of our favorite characters as well. The Vampire Academy cast includes Sisi Stringer as Rose Hathaway, a half-human, half-vampire, and Daniela Nieves as Lissa Dragomir, a vampire princess. Additionally appearing are Kieron Moore as Dimitri Belikov, André Dae Kim as Christian Ozera, 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 Success of YA Novels on Streaming
Judging from these descriptions, it doesn’t sound like the series is straying too far from the source material. In the wake of Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games, Hollywood went in hard for movie adaptations of YA novels. But few found big box office returns—besides the ones we just mentioned, of course. In recent years, studios have realized that those same YA novels have a much better shot at success by becoming streaming series. Certainly, that change in format helped the adaptation of His Dark Materials.
Get those fangs out, it sounds like we’re in for a good time.
Originally published on May 19, 2021.
