Dracula, the long anticipated series from the creators of BBC’s Sherlock, finally has a trailer, and just in time for Halloween:
What immediately stands out to me about this trailer is how strikingly different the tone of this piece is compared to Sherlock. When Steven Moffat & Mark Gatiss announced that they were doing Dracula, people speculated about how they would twist the premise in the way they did with the story of the famous sleuth.
As it turns out, they’ve decided to go with a relatively faithful adaptation. The series is set in the 19th century, and features the terrifying titular character (played by Claes Bang) in all his bloody glory.
Also surprising was how much this series appears to lean into the horror genre. This isn’t the usual track for Moffat & Gatiss, but in retrospect it makes sense — Sherlock season 4 featured a lot of horror-inspired imagery and tropes, and Moffat has always had a hand in the most chilling episodes of Doctor Who. Still, this new style for the dynamic duo raises many questions about what this show will actually look like.
Sherlock‘s success came from the brilliance of the scripts and the power of the performances, miraculously drawing a massive audience out of a quite niche idea. Dracula seems to be going for more visual spectacle (though of course Sherlock was never short of that), so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.
I’ll admit that this is not what I was expecting from this trailer, but I am eager to see what the pair has done with this adaptation. As much as I wish that Sherlock was coming back, I’ll gladly take anything Moffat & Gatiss will give me.
Dracula will air on BBC, BBC iPlayer, and Netflix.
Date not yet announced.
