''Let the Right One In'' is an American
horror drama television series
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
developed by Andrew Hinderaker, inspired by the
novel of the same name by
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
writer
John Ajvide Lindqvist
John Ajvide Lindqvist (; born 2 December 1968) is a Swedish writer of horror novels and short stories.
Early life
Lindqvist was born and raised in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg. Before becoming a published writer, Lindqvist worked for 12 ...
. The series stars
Demián Bichir
Demián Bichir Nájera (; born 1 August 1963) is a Mexican actor. After starring in telenovelas, he began to appear in Hollywood films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in ''A Better Life''.
Personal life
Bichi ...
,
Anika Noni Rose
Anika Noni Rose (born September 6, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for voicing Tiana, Disney's first African-American princess, as seen in ''The Princess and the Frog'' (2009). She was named a Disney Legend in 2011.
S ...
,
Grace Gummer
Grace Jane Gummer (born May 9, 1986) is an American actress. She received a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 2011 revival of '' Arcadia''. Her television work includes recurring roles in '' The Newsroom'' and '' American Horror ...
, Madison Taylor Baez, Ian Foreman,
Nick Stahl
Nicolas Kent Stahl (born December 5, 1979) is an American actor. Starting out as a child actor, he gained recognition for his performance in the 1993 film ''The Man Without a Face'', co-starring Mel Gibson.
He later transitioned into his adult ...
, Jacob Buster and
Kevin Carroll. It diverges from and expands upon the source material, focusing on a father who cares for his daughter after she becomes a vampire. It premiered on
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
on October 9, 2022. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the actors, but felt it was inferior to the original
2008 film adaptation.
In January 2023, the series was canceled after one season.
Premise
Mark Kane is a single father who has been protecting his daughter Eleanor after she turned into a vampire ten years prior; she has been stuck in the age of 12 ever since. Hoping to find a cure, together they've been hiding and running across the country, until he finally decides to reside them in New York City. Meanwhile, Eleanor meets and bonds with a 12 year old boy, Isiah Cole, as a scientist, Claire Logan, is brought in by her father to help find the cure for her brother's vampirism.
Cast and characters
Main
*
Demián Bichir
Demián Bichir Nájera (; born 1 August 1963) is a Mexican actor. After starring in telenovelas, he began to appear in Hollywood films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in ''A Better Life''.
Personal life
Bichi ...
as Mark Kane
*
Anika Noni Rose
Anika Noni Rose (born September 6, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for voicing Tiana, Disney's first African-American princess, as seen in ''The Princess and the Frog'' (2009). She was named a Disney Legend in 2011.
S ...
as Naomi Cole
*
Grace Gummer
Grace Jane Gummer (born May 9, 1986) is an American actress. She received a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 2011 revival of '' Arcadia''. Her television work includes recurring roles in '' The Newsroom'' and '' American Horror ...
as Claire Logan
* Madison Taylor Baez as Eleanor Kane
* Ian Foreman as Isaiah Cole
*
Nick Stahl
Nicolas Kent Stahl (born December 5, 1979) is an American actor. Starting out as a child actor, he gained recognition for his performance in the 1993 film ''The Man Without a Face'', co-starring Mel Gibson.
He later transitioned into his adult ...
as Matthew Dean
* Jacob Buster as Peter Logan
*
Kevin Carroll as Zeke Dawes
Recurring
*
Željko Ivanek
Željko Ivanek (né Šimić-Ivanek; ; ; born August 15, 1957) is an American actor, known for his role as Ray Fiske on ''Damages'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award. Ivanek is also known for his role of Ed Danvers on '' Homicide: Life on t ...
as Arthur Logan
*
Fernanda Andrade
Fernanda Andrade (born 8 March 1984) is a Brazilian-born American actress, model and singer. She is best known for starring in the 2012 horror film, '' The Devil Inside'' as Isabella Rossi, Special Agent Salazar in the 2020 sci-fi action thrille ...
as Elizabeth Kane
* Jimmie Saito as Ben Jones
*
Josh Wingate
Josh Wingate is an American actor most recently known for his recurring role as Roland on Showtime's hit series ''Let the Right One In'' (2022) starring Demián Bichir, Kevin Carroll, Nick Stahl, and Grace Gummer.
Wingate had guest-starring and r ...
as Roland
* Caroline Neff as Danielle Wilson
Guest
*
Ato Essandoh
Ato Essilfi Bracato Essandoh (born July 29, 1972) is an American television and film actor.
Early life
Essandoh was born in Schenectady, New York to Ghanaian parents and graduated from New Rochelle High School in 1990. He received a B.S. in che ...
as Frank
Episodes
Production
Development
A television adaptation based on the 2004 novel, ''
Let the Right One In'', by
John Ajvide Lindqvist
John Ajvide Lindqvist (; born 2 December 1968) is a Swedish writer of horror novels and short stories.
Early life
Lindqvist was born and raised in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg. Before becoming a published writer, Lindqvist worked for 12 ...
was in development for
A&E.
On August 29, 2016, the pilot was now in development at
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
as an eerie drama following the same premise as its predecessor.
On April 13, 2017, TNT announced they had scrapped the pilot and were shopping the series to other networks in its current iteration or a potential redo.
On March 15, 2021,
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
ordered a pilot for the series, with Andrew Hinderaker serving as showrunner.
On September 22, 2021, the show was ordered as a 10-episode series.
In an October 2022 interview, Ajvide Lindqvist mentioned he was not involved with the show, explaining that he inadvertently sold all rights to the book for only 1
SEK when he thought he was only giving
Hammer Films
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...
the rights to make ''
Let Me In'' (2010), the American remake of the
2008 film adaptation of the book, meaning he will earn no royalties from the TV show; according to him, Hammer had misled him of the nature of the contract, saying "there were thick bundles of American legal prose. And that would then mean that I sold all the rights for a penny, but that was just a mere formality and would have no practical meaning, they said." On January 30, 2023, Showtime canceled the series after one season.
Casting
Kristine Froseth
Kristine Froseth (; no, Frøseth; born 21 September 1996) is an American and Norwegian actress and model. She is known for playing Kelly Aldrich in the Netflix series '' The Society'' and Alaska Young in the Hulu series ''Looking for Alaska''. ...
was cast in the TNT iteration of the pilot as the lead, Eli, on September 29, 2016.
On October 13, 2016,
Benjamin Wadsworth and
Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann (; born 8 September 1962) is a German actor who has appeared in many European and American films. His notable roles include Lieutenant Hans von Witzland in '' Stalingrad'' (1993), Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in '' The Pianist'' ( ...
were tapped to star as the other leads, Henry and Inspector Eriksson, respectively.
On October 20, 2016,
Necar Zadegan and
Cameron Gellman joined the pilot in the series regular role FBI Special Agent Sarah Church, and the recurring role of Kyle, respectively.
Darren Mann joined the pilot in a recurring role as Lukas on October 25, 2016.
The pilot at TNT was eventually scrapped in April 2017 before entering production.
On March 15, 2021,
Demian Bichir signed onto the pilot as the lead, now in development at Showtime.
Anika Noni Rose joined the main cast as Naomi on April 15, 2021.
Grace Gummer joined the main cast as Claire on April 29, 2021.
Nick Stahl was cast as a series regular as Matthew on January 26, 2022.
On June 17, 2021, Madison Taylor Baez was cast in the lead opposite Demián Bichir as Eleanor. Kevin Carroll, Jacob Buster and Ian Foreman were also amongst the new cast additions.
Željko Ivanek & Fernanda Andrade joined the series in recastings as Elizabeth and Arthur, respectively.
Larry Pine
Larry Pine (born March 3, 1945) is an American actor.
A veteran of the Broadway stage, he began his career playing the role of Fop in the 1968 production of ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. He has since starred in film and television, with recurring roles ...
and Susan Santiago played their respective roles in the pilot.
Jimmie Saito, Josh Wingate, and Caroline Neff joined the series in recurring roles as Ben, Roland, and Danielle Wilson, respectively.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
for the pilot began on May 31, 2021, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The series entered production in early 2022.
Reception
Critical response
The
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported a 63% approval rating with an average rating of 6.3/10, based on 27 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Let the Right One In'' doesn't hold a candle to the cinematic original, but viewers who invite this vampiric chronicle into their homes and television screens will be rewarded with compelling performances."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Ratings
References
External links
*
*
{{Portal bar, Television, United States, Speculative fiction, Horror, New York City
2020s American drama television series
2020s American horror television series
2022 American television series debuts
2022 American television series endings
Horror drama television series
English-language television shows
Psychological horror
Psychological drama television and other works
Showtime (TV network) original programming
Television series by CBS Studios
Television series set in the 2020s
Television shows based on Swedish novels
Vampires in television
Television shows filmed in New York City
Television shows set in New York City