A day after casting the female lead, FX's Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cuse pilot The Strain has added two more to its cast.
Titanic's Jonathan Hyde and Inglourious Basterds' Richard Sammel have boarded the Corey Stoll starrer, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.
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Based on del Toro and Chuck Hogan's book trilogy first published in 2009, the story centers on a vampire virus that infects New York and the CDC doctor, Ephraim "Eph" Goodweather, who investigates the case. House of Cards breakout Stoll will play Goodweather, the head of the CDC's Canary Team in New York who is called upon to investigate a viral outbreak connected to an evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph will lead a team of New Yorkers as it wages a war and defends humanity.
Hyde, who played Ismay in James Cameron's Titanic, will portray the series regular role of Eldritch Palmer, an elderly tycoon who's the third-richest man in the world who has been an invalid since childhood. Though his life-long fight against his frail body, he's developed a relentless drive to attain immortality by any means necessary.
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Sammel, meanwhile, will play Thomas Eichorst, a mysterious figure from Professor Abraham Setrakian's past whose re-emergence in New York is not a coincidence. (The role of Setrakian has yet to be cast.)
The duo joins a cast that also includes Alias' Mia Maestro and Kevin Durand. Hyde is repped by Paradigm and ARG; Sammel is with Cineart and Spielkind.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit
