5 Reasons to Watch NBC's 'Trés Gai' Dracula

NBC’s new hit series, Dracula, debuted Oct. 25 (a joint American/British production, it debuted in the UK on Sky on Halloween). Created by Cole Haddon, who did the super-creepy, super-sexy series Carnivale for HBO, it’s a hot and bloody re-telling of the Bram Stoker classic.

Haddon’s version, set in 19^th century London, has Dracula posing as an American entrepreneur, Alexander Grayson (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). He wants to bring modern science to Victorian society -- notably electricity. He’s obsessed with the idea of getting into the light and hires Abraham Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann) to work on a solar vaccine. Dracula/Grayson also wants revenge (he is a vampire, after all) against those who cursed him with immortality centuries earlier.  He has a plan and has help from his amanuensis, Renfield (Nonso Anozie). But then he meets Mina Murray (Jessica De Gouw) who appears to be a reincarnation of his dead wife, Ilona. Lucy Westenra (Kate McGrath) is Mina’s best friend–she’s also in love with Mina.

If that synopsis isn’t reason enough to get you watching, here are five more reasons.... Catch Dracula on NBC on Friday night! 

5. Dracula Is Timeless.

How many re-tellings of Stoker’s novel have there been since it was first published in 1897? The story never gets old and this fresh, sexy, bloody, action-packed version comes very close to the original story yet feels utterly new. The love that spans centuries, as well as the newer loves envisioned in the NBC series, make for drama you can sink your teeth into.

4. We’re Blinded by Science.

The dawn of electricity as well as the dawn of modern medicine (Mina is the only female medical student at her college) are characters in their own right in Dracula. The science provides a highly intriguing backdrop for the action and helps propel the complex plot along.

3. We Can’t Help Rooting for Mina and Lucy.

The lesbian sub-plot in Dracula is compelling and heart-breaking. Mina–the young medical student–is so alluring. Is it any wonder that Lucy is in love with her? But so is Dracula...

2. Dracula Is Trés Gai.

Victorian England was a hot-bed of simmering sexuality. In Dracula, that sexuality is revealed. While the main love story is heterosexual, there is a lot of girl-on-girl and boy-on-boy action in Dracula, including scenes in a gay club replete with a Victoria drag show and sex scenes between two of the male characters. 

1. Vampires Never Get Old.

Whether it’s another in the Twilight series or The Vampire Diaries or the vampires-in-training in the soon-to-be-released Vampire Academy, vampires are always sexy and forever young. The vampires in Dracula wear their centuries well. Dracula himself (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is super sexy. There’s also the exotic Lady Jayne Wetherby (Victoria Smurfit), who has her own bloody agenda.