Jonathan Rhys Meyers To Play Dracula

The Tudors actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers is to play Dracula in a new television series.

Bram Stroker’s classic tale about the vampire Count Dracula is set to get adapted once again though the latest adaptation is for television. American broadcaster NBC has ordered ten episodes of the planned adaptation which will keep the Victorian setting but with a “look to the future”.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that NBC’s Dracula will be in London during the 1890s as the vampire leads a double life as an American businessman interested in modern science to the world of the Victorians. The series is to be co-produced by Gareth Neame who is a producer on ITV‘s hit drama series Downton Abbey which airs on PBS in America. Production on Dracula is set to start later this year though no air date has yet been fixed for the drama series.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers best known television work is as Henry VIII in Showtime‘s historical drama The Tudors, which aired on BBC Two in the UK, between 2007 and 2011. The drama charted the reign of one of England’s most famous monarchs including his six marriages two of which ended with his wives being beheaded. Earlier this week it was announced that actor Simon Ward, who played Bishop Gardiner in the drama series, had died at the age of 70.