Despite his recent appearances in Doctor Who and his role in its 50th anniversary, it looks like that will be all we'll see of John Hurt as an incarnation of the Time Lord.
John has signed up to appear in The Strain, a new FX Channel drama based on the best-selling vampire novel trilogy from Guillermo del Toro and author Chuck Hogan.
John will be playing Professor Abraham Setrakian, a holocaust survivor who emigrated to the United States after World War II and now runs a pawn shop in Spanish Harlem. As the vampire outbreak spreads, he may be the only one who knows how to stop it.
"I'm incredibly happy to be reunited with John," said del Toro, who worked with him on Hellboy. "He is one of the greatest actors in the world and one of my favourite people ever. Chuck and I always visualised him while writing The Strain novels and he is absolutely perfect for the part."
The Strain is a high concept thriller that tells the story of Dr phraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll), the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism.
When Eph realises that this isn't some new bio-terror weapon, but something much older, something outside the reach of science, he teams with Abraham to fight back. As a plague of hungry and intelligent predators overwhelms New York, Eph, Abraham and a motley crew of everyday New Yorkers form a ragtag resistance - fighting monsters in the streets and in their homes, waging a war for the fate of humanity itself.
The Strain is likely to screen in the UK next year.
