NBC is taking a bite out of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s latest project…
The Nicaraguan-American playwright, screenwriter and comic book writer’s gothic soap opera drama with top television producer Greg Berlanti, Brides, has landed at NBC with a pilot production commitment.
Written by Aguirre-Sacasa, Brides is described as a sexy reimagining of Dracula as a family drama with a trio of strong, diverse female leads, a show about empowered women and the things they do to maintain wealth, prestige, legacy — and their non-traditional family.
The project hails from Warner Bros. Television and studio-based Berlanti Productions, with Aguirre-Sacasa, Berlanti and Sarah Schechter executive producing.
Known in popular culture as the Brides of Dracula, the three characters, originally introduced in Bram Stoker’s classic novel, are portrayed as beautiful and powerful female vampire “sisters” who reside with Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania where they use their charm to seduce and bewitch men before preying on them. They manage to entrance Van Helsing too before he shakes off their spell and kills them. The characters are a staple in the Dracula mythology and have appeared in most Dracula screen adaptations, headlining the 1960 British movie The Brides Of Dracula.
Aguirre-Sacasa’s project imagines what would have happened if Van Helsing had not killed the three brides of Dracula. What if they survived for centuries and are now living in New York City?
Brides expands the relationship between Aguirre-Sacasa, chief creative officer of Archie Comics, and Berlanti. The two teamed last season for Riverdale, a live-action drama based on the characters from the Archie comics. The project, originally set up at Fox, recently relocated to the CW where it is in active development.
Aguirre-Sacasa previously worked for Marvel Comics, did stints on HBO’s Big Love and Looking and Fox’s Glee, and wrote the feature remakes of Carrie and The Town That Dreaded Sundown as well as the Broadway-bound stage musical adaptation of American Psycho.