LTROI series for A&E

REBLOGGED FROM VAMPIRES.COM:

http://www.vampires.com/ltroi-series-for-ae/

First there was a best-selling novel, which became a wildly popular film in its native Sweden. Then an English-language adaptation, a Swedish-language play, following by anEnglish-language play performing first in Edinburgh then London then New York. Now Let The Right One In is slated to join the line-up of A&E. Teen Wolf writers Jeff Davis and Brandon Boyce are currently writing a script. The series will be produced by A+E Studios with Tomorrow Studios.

Plenty of S P O I L E R S follow, so be warned.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the series would again relocate the story to the United States, this time in Vermont. Like the previous versions, a lonely and bullied boy befriends a mysterious girl who moves into town with her equally-mysterious guardian. Strange murders follow which attract the attention of a Federal Marshal with some kind of secrets of his own. This synopsis leaves a large number of questions un-answered. For example:

What is the time period of the proposed series? Both films retained the 1980s setting, using events of that decade as a kind of commentary of the plot. Certainly doing a series in the present would be easier and cheaper. More it would open up a possible plot change. The new series might not be done so much a remake but a quasi-sequel. In other words, the Oscar character from the original might be the Guardian of the new show. Maybe.

How old are this boy and girl? Matt Reeves, writer/director of Let Me In (the American film, made under the auspices of Hammer Studios) noted that when first approached about making an English version language, people said to him “Of course we have to make the boy and the vampire teenagers.” He refused. That doesn’t mean someone else might not love that idea.

Will there be any more vampires? The book mentions at least five other vampires, including the nobleman who created Eli (Abby in the American film), another vampire Eli met years later who noted most undead commit suicide. During the course of the story, Eli accidentally turned two of her victims into vampires she had to destroy–and when her Guardian offered her his blood after burning his face off with acid to protect her, the Guardian also rose and tried to rape her. If Davis and Boyce want to turn the novel into an ongoing series, the real possibility exists of using the fact vampirism is so hideously easy to spread.

Many details are frankly left in the air, with barely a hint. The Federal Marshal for example certainly seems brand spanking new, and the secrets could easily be more complex than the obvious thought that he (or she) Mulder-like now “believes.” Neither of the leads characters’ names have been released, nor much idea of the circumstances around each. In the Swedish film, Oscar’s parents are separated because the father drinks. In the American, Owen’s mother is the drunk and deeply religious to boot (this remains a major difference between the two settings–the Swedish town doesn’t even have a church, and one can barely imagine an American town without one). American Abby’s Guardian was once pretty clearly a version of Owen, someone who grew up and apart from his beloved friend. Swedish Eli’s Guardian is a pedophile in love, eager to prove his loyalty and the right to touch this child who is not a child.

No word yet on when such a series might be expected to air. Jeff Davis, although best known for Teen Wolf, wrote the original script which became Criminal Minds. Brandon Boyce penned the biopic Milk as well as Apt Pupil, based on a story by Stephen King. Marty Adelstein will serve as Executive Producer, having been responsible for Tru Calling(with Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s Eliza Dushku) and Point Pleasant. Becky Clements (Last Man Standing) and Hammer Studios President Simon Oakes will also Executive Produce.