''Vampire Academy'' is an American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

horror television series based on the novels series of the same name by

Richelle Mead Richelle Mead (born November 12, 1976) is an American fantasy author. She is known for the '' Georgina Kincaid'' series, '' Vampire Academy'', '' Bloodlines'' and the '' Dark Swan'' series. Education and career Richelle Mead was born in Michigan, ...

. Adapted for

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

Julie Plec Julie Plec (born May 26, 1972) is an American television producer, writer and director, known for her work on The CW television series ''The Vampire Diaries'' (2009–2017) which she co-created with Kevin Williamson, and its spin-offs '' The Or ...

and Marguerite MacIntyre, the series is produced by

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...

. It stars Sisi Stringer,

Daniela Nieves Daniela Nieves (born July 4, 1997) is an American actress best known for playing Andi Cruz on the Nickelodeon series ''Every Witch Way'' and ''WITS Academy''. Nieves's other appearances include ''Una Maid en Manhattan'', ''El Rostro de Analía' ...

Kieron Moore Kieron Moore (born Ciarán Ó hAnnracháin, anglicised as Kieron O'Hanrahan) (5 October 1924 – 15 July 2007) was an Irish film and television actor whose career was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s. He may be best remembered for his role as ...

and André Dae Kim alongside an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

. It is the second adaptation of the novel series, after the 2014 film of the same name, and serves as a

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

. Unlike the film, it does not adapt a particular novel of Mead's series, but instead takes the basics, inspirations, and elements from the six novels, using them to tell a different story. It was given a straight-to-series order in May 2021 by Peacock, and casting announcements were made in 2021. The filming took place in Spain and Portugal. The series features characters from the books and re-imagined versions of others. It revolves around Rose Hathaway who is a guardian-in-training

Dhampir In Balkans folklore, dhampirs (sometimes spelled ''dhampyres'', ''dhamphirs'', or ''dhampyrs'') are creatures that are the result of a union between a vampire and a mortal human. This union was usually between male vampires and female mortal huma ...

, and Lissa Dragomir, who is a

Moroi A moroi (sometimes moroii in modern fiction; pl. ''moroi'') is a type of vampire or ghost in Romanian folklore. A female moroi is called a moroaică (pl. ''moroaice''). In some versions, a moroi is a phantom of a dead person which leaves the grav ...

princess, and follows their life and adventures at the St Vladimir's Academy, a boarding school. The series premiered on September 15, 2022 on Peacock to generally positive reviews. In January 2023, the series was canceled after one season.

Cast

Main

* Sisi Stringer as Rose Hathaway: a

dhampir In Balkans folklore, dhampirs (sometimes spelled ''dhampyres'', ''dhamphirs'', or ''dhampyrs'') are creatures that are the result of a union between a vampire and a mortal human. This union was usually between male vampires and female mortal huma ...

guardian-in-training; Lissa's best friend; Dimitri's love interest *

as Lissa Dragomir: a royal

moroi A moroi (sometimes moroii in modern fiction; pl. ''moroi'') is a type of vampire or ghost in Romanian folklore. A female moroi is called a moroaică (pl. ''moroaice''). In some versions, a moroi is a phantom of a dead person which leaves the grav ...

vampire; spirit user; Dragomir princess; Andre's sister; Rose's best friend; Christian's love interest *

as Dimitri Belikov: a dhampir guardian; head command; Rose's love interest * André Dae Kim as Christian Ozera: a royal moroi vampire; fire user; Lissa's love interest * Anita-Joy Uwajeh as Tatiana Vogel: a royal moroi vampire; member of the royal council; political underdog *

Mia McKenna-Bruce Mia Sasha McKenna-Bruce (born 3 July 1997) is an English actress. She gained prominence through her role as Tee Taylor in ''Tracy Beaker Returns'' (2010–2012) and ''The Dumping Ground'' (2013–2018). She has since appeared in the iPlayer s ...

as Mia Karp: a non-royal moroi vampire; water user; Victor and Robert's adoptive daughter; Sonya's adoptive sister; Meredith's love interest * Jonetta Kaiser as Sonya Karp: a non-royal moroi vampire-turned Strigoi; a secret spirit user; Victor and Robert's daughter, Mia's adoptive sister; Mikhail's former girlfriend * Andrew Liner as Mason Ashford: a dhampir guardian-in-training; Stefan's son; Rose's friend and one-sided love interest * Rhian Blundell as Meredith Beckham: a dhampir guardian-in-training; Mia's love interest * J. August Richards as Victor Dashkov: a royal moroi vampire, member of the royal council; key advisor to the queen; Robert's husband; Sonya and Mia's father; Lissa's godfather and legal guardian

Recurring

Pik-Sen Lim Pik-Sen Lim (, born 15 September 1944) is a Malaysian-British actress. According to the British Film Institute, Lim was "the most familiar Chinese actor on British television screens in the 1970s and 80s." Her notable roles include Chin Lee i ...

as Queen Marina: a royal moroi vampire; air user; the 200 year old queen of the Dominion * Jason Diaz as Andre Dragomir: a royal moroi vampire; fire user; Dragomir prince; the queen's pick to be her successor; Lissa's brother * Max Parker as Mikhail Tanner: a dhampir guardian; Kieran's son; Sasha's brother; Sonya's former boyfriend * Jennifer Kirby as Alberta Casey: a dhampir guardian; head of the guardians * Joseph Ollman as Jesse Zeklos: fire user; a royal moroi vampire; Dane's son * Yael Belicha as Marie Carter: a royal moroi vampire; earth user; member of the royal council; a traditionalist and conservative *

Amanda Drew Amanda Drew (born 12 December 1969) is an English actress with extensive credits in theatre, television and film. Biography One of four children, Drew was born in Boston, Lincolnshire. Drew's mother was a nurse and her father was a vicar. When ...

as Diane *

Angela Wynter Angela Wynter is a Jamaican-British actress. She is known for her role as Yolande Trueman in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', appearing from 2003 to 2008, with a guest appearance in 2017. In 2021, she joined the cast of the BBC soap opera ''Do ...

as Irene Vogel: a royal moroi vampire; high priestess; earth user; Tatiana's great aunt * Craig Stevenson as Dane Zeklos: a royal moroi vampire; air user; member of the royal council; Jesse's father * Adam Quintero as Peter Tarus: a royal moroi vampire; member of the royal council * Blake Patrick Anderson as Eddie Castile: a dhampir guardian-in-training *

Louisa Connolly-Burnham Louisa Sarah Anne Connolly-Burnham (born 23 June 1992) is an English actress and filmmaker. She is best known for her roles as Shannon Kelly in the CBBC series ''Wolfblood'' (2012–2014) and Willow Jenks in the Nickelodeon series ''House of Anub ...

as Silver *

Cornelius Macarthy Cornelius Macarthy is a British actor and singer. Early life Macarthy was born in Croydon, South London. His mother was an executive secretary, his father an economist and Sierra Leone Creole. At age 5, his mother decided to move back to Freeto ...

as Robert Karp: Victor's husband; Sonya and Mia's father

Episodes

Production

Development

In 2010, Preger Entertainment optioned the film rights to the ''

Vampire Academy ''Vampire Academy'' is a series of six young adult paranormal romance novels by American author Richelle Mead. It tells the story of Rosemarie "Rose" Hathaway, a dhampir girl, who is training to be a guardian of her moroi best friend, Vasilisa " ...

'' series by

. The film, based on the first book, was released theatrically in United States in February 2014 and was a

box-office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

. Following the movie failure, Preger Entertainment launched a Indiegogo campaign to help fund the production for a sequel based on the second novel, ''

Frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the han ...

''. However, the campaign failed to reach its goal and the project was ultimately cancelled. In March 2015,

expressed on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

a desire to adapt the books into a television series. In May 2021,

picked up ''Vampire Academy'' straight-to-series with Plec and Marguerite MacIntyre as developers and also expected to executive produce alongside Emily Cummins and Jillian DeFrehn, as part of Plec overall deal at

Don Murphy Don Murphy (born April 1967) is an American film producer who produced '' Natural Born Killers'', ''Real Steel'', '' Splice'' and many other films, including ''Transformers'' and '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen''. Personal background ...

Susan Montford Susan Montford is a Scottish filmmaker living in Los Angeles. She has produced, written and directed movies that range from cult hits to blockbusters. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She is related to the Scottish football commentator Arthur ...

, and Deepak Nayar, who produced the 2014 film, also joined the series as executive producers. On January 20, 2023, Peacock canceled the series after one season. Though Plec initially announced that they were shopping the series to other platforms, she confirmed in April 2023 that cast contracts had expired, ending chances of a revival.

Casting

In August 2021, the core cast for the series was set, including Sisi Stringer as Rose Hathaway,

as Lissa Dragomir,

as Dimitri Belikov, and André Dae Kim as Christian Ozera. J. August Richards, Jonetta Kaiser, and Andrew Liner were cast as Victor Dashkov, Sonya Karp, and Mason Ashford, respectively. Anita-Joy Uwajeh joined the cast as Tatiana Vogel, while

signed for the role of Mia Karp, two re-imagined versions of characters from the books, Tatiana Ivashkov, and Mia Rinaldi. Rhian Blundell was announced to play Meredith, a minor characters in the books. In August 2022,

, Lorna Brown,

, Jason Diaz, Jennifer Kirby, Joseph Ollman, and

were cast in recurring capacities.

Filming

Filming had begun in Spain in locations such as

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

Olite Olite (''Erriberri'' in Basque language) is a town and municipality located in the Comarca de Tafalla comarca, Merindad de Olite merindad, in Navarre, Spain. History According to Isidore of Seville's ''Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalor ...

, Viana and

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

in September 2021, as revealed by

Bille Woodruff Bille Woodruff is a director of film, television and music videos, noted for directing many videos for a number of R&B and hip-hop artists since the mid-1990s. These artists include Joe (singer), Joe, for whom Woodruff has directed 9 music video ...

, who directed the pilot, and

. The series was also filmed in Portugal.

Release

''Vampire Academy'' premiered on Peacock on September 15, 2022.

Reception

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 77% approval rating with an average rating of 7.4/10, based on 13 critic reviews.

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 59 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Richelle Mead 2020s American high school television series 2020s American horror television series 2020s American supernatural television series 2020s American teen drama television series 2022 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings American fantasy drama television series American fantasy television series American horror fiction television series Boarding school fiction Dark fantasy television series English-language television shows Horror drama television series Peacock (streaming service) original programming Television about magic Television series about teenagers Television series about vampires Television series by Universal Television Television series reboots Television shows based on American novels Television shows filmed in Spain Television shows filmed in Portugal Vampire Academy series