The trailer was just released for Showtime’s upcoming series Let the Right One In, which is loosely (and I mean loosely) based on the novel of the same name, which has already been adapted into a hit movie. This version from Showtime is nothing like the book.
According to the synopsis on YouTube, “Mark and his daughter Eleanor’s lives changed 10 years ago when she was turned into a vampire. Eleanor leads a secluded life, able to go out only at night, while her father does his best to feed her the human blood she needs to survive.” That sure is a story that is not like the actual book!
Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist published the vampire novel Let the Right One In back in 2004, and it was quickly a success and was adapted into a Swedish film in 2008, and then an American adaptation renamed as Let Me In came out in 2010. (Both films were critically successful.) The novel follows a young boy named Oskar, who is the victim of horrible bullying and, as a result, has developed his own revenge fantasies. One night, he meets a girl named Eli, who appears to be twelve years old, who moves in with an older man Oskar believes to be her father. Oskar soon discovers that Eli is a 200-year-old vampire and that the man with her is a pedophile who serves Eli (and is eventually killed).
So you can see why this father-daughter change is … very different. And don’t get me wrong, I get the appeal of taking the bones of this story and transforming it into something else, especially with the male lead being a predator. That being said … why use the title? It invokes a very specific story, and honestly, seeing it in this lens turned me off initially, rather than actually drawing me into the idea that was being laid out.
The first episode will air on October 9, 2022 and will star Demián Bichir as Mark Kane and Madison Taylor Baez as Eleanor, and Anika Noni Rose, Grace Gummer, Ian Foreman, and Kevin Carroll round out the rest of the main cast.
(featured image: Showtime)
