According to EW, Hurt, 73, will be portraying professor Abraham Setrakian, a survivor of the Holocaust. Del Toro is slated to direct and co-author the pilot episode of the show, and has expressed his enthusiasm about working with Hurt again; the pair previously worked together on del Toro’s 2004 hit, Hellboy. In a recently released statement, del Toro stated:
“I am incredibly happy to be reunited with John, who is one of the greatest actors in the world and one of my favorite people ever [...] Chuck and I always visualized him while writing The Strain novels and he is absolutely perfect for the part!”If you are unfamiliar with Hurt’s Oscar-nominated performances, you may also recognize him as wand-guru, Mr. Ollivander from the Harry Potter films, or most recently, his surprise television appearance as The Doctor in this seasons finale of Doctor Who. While there has been much speculation that Hurt will in fact be the 12th regeneration, it doesn’t appear to be true, as he is only slated to appear in the upcoming 50th anniversary special. Production on The Strain will begin this September.
-Nowal Massari