News
Guillermo del Toro’s “The Strain” to Conclude Next Year
“The Strain”, the vampire thriller drama from Carlton Cuse, Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, will conclude its run on FX next year, Deadline reports. The cable network has given the series, which is midway through airing its third season, a renewal for a fourth and final season to air in summer 2017.
“We sincerely thank Carlton Cuse, Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan and their creative team as well as the fantastic cast for three exciting seasons of The Strain,” said FX Networks president of original programming Nick Grad. “Though we’re sad to see it go, we fully support the way in which they are crafting the fourth season’s dramatic conclusion.”
While for many series the decision to end it is a forced one by the networks, “The Strain” was always designed for a limited run.
“Our original plan was for the series to last three years,” Cuse said today after the renewal of the fourth and final season was announced. “Once we began telling that story it expanded to be more. After finishing the writing on Season 3, Guillermo, Chuck and I looked at our remaining story and felt the best version could be told in one more season. We have a fantastic plan for an exciting and climatic Season 4. We are deeply grateful to FX for supporting our vision and for allowing us to end the show on our own timetable.”
Currently airing its third season on FX, ‘The Strain” has the very survival of humanity at stake. New York City is a battleground. Written off by the federal government, the citizens are on their own in the ultimate showdown between humans and strigoi. The series stars Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Kevin Durand, Jonathan Hyde, Richard Sammel, Natalie Brown, Miguel Gomez, Max Charles, Ruta Gedmintas, Rupert Penry-Jones, Samantha Mathis and Joaquín Cosío.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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