Ever since Bela Lugosi donned the cape and fangs to become Count Dracula in 1931, Hollywood has had a fascination with the titular blood sucker. Hundreds of adaptations have brought Bram Stoker’s creation to life over the years, and hundreds more have tried their best to reinvent the vampire, some to varying degrees of success. In 2019, a Netflix original series attempted to put a scientific spin on the nocturnal abominations, and though it only lasted for one season, the show remains a cult favorite today that every horror fan should watch at least once.
Titled V Wars, the 10-episode sci-fi horror show was based on the anthology series and comic books by author Jonathan Maberry. Premiering on Netflix on December 5, 2019, V Wars presented vampires not as mythical creatures who can burst into a colony of bats and fly off into the night, but rather as humans infected with an ancient disease that was set free from the polar ice caps thanks to global warming. As such, familiar vampire tropes like light sensitivity, blood dependency, and changes in behavior are explained away by science rather than folklore.
Starring Ian Somerhalder, Adrian Holmes, Jacky Lai, Kyle Breitkopf, Peter Outerbridge, Kimberly-Sue Murray and Sydney Meyer, V Wars was perhaps the freshest take we’ve seen on vampires in years. By blending science and horror, it created something new that fans latched onto and appreciated, even if it was reminiscent of The Strain, which came five years before V Wars.
However, what set the Netflix series apart from the FX show was its world-building. V Wars featured different mutations of the virus, as well as things like political upheaval and civil unrest, which made it feel like something that could’ve been ripped from the headlines. If you’ve read Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, then you know the author has always had a knack for creating fantastical tales like that. The official synopsis for V Wars reads:
“V Wars is a sci-fi horror series that follows Dr. Luther Swann, an infectious-disease specialist racing to contain a mysterious virus unleashed by melting Arctic ice. As the pathogen spreads, it transforms people into different strains of vampires, fracturing society and igniting a growing war between humans and the infected. When Swann’s best friend becomes a powerful vampire leader, the crisis turns personal, forcing him to confront the moral, political, and biological consequences of a rapidly evolving global outbreak.”
Why Was ‘V Wars’ Canceled By Netflix?
Sadly, as good as it was, V Wars was canceled by Netflix after just one season, leaving many of its plot threads unresolved. Fans were crushed by the news, asking why the streaming service would do them dirty like that and end things with a massive cliffhanger. The answer, unfortunately, comes down to business.
As loyal as its fan base was, V Wars just didn’t have the high viewership necessary for Netflix to foot the bill for another season. It wasn’t because the show was bad (though it did receive mixed reviews from critics), it was simply a financial decision that saw the streamer giveth, and then taketh away when the metrics weren’t there to justify more episodes.
Still, even though it only lasted a short time, V Wars is definitely a show that every horror fan should check out, if for nothing more than the unique spin it puts on vampires. It’s creative thinking at its finest, and even though we’ll always wonder what could have been, there’s at least the written anthology novels and comic books to provide us with some closure.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
