The cast of New Line’s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot continues to grow with Game of Thrones and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom star Pilou Asbaek joining the already heaving ensemble as Richard Straker, the human servant of the vampire Barlow, who prepares the town for his master’s arrival through a number of dubious deeds. The actor arrives into the project fresh of his work on the James Wan directed Aquaman sequel, and of course his villainous Game of Thrones role as the sadistic Euron Greyjoy.
The new adaptation of King’s second novel is written by Gary Dauberman, who also worked on the two part movie version of IT which proved to be a massive hit in 2017 and 2019, and this time also takes on the director’s role for the tale of a small town, which becomes the target of an ancient vampire who slowly begins to take over the people living there with the help of his servant; the role that will be taken on by Pilou Asbæk.
The new Salem’s Lot cast is headed up by Lewis Pullman who takes on the role of writer Ben Mears, a man returning to his hometown looking for inspiration for a new novel. As is normal with King stories, the author isn’t in town long before strange things start happening and before he knows it, Mears is leading a small group of townsfolk as they attempt to destroy the evil presence that has descended upon them. It has also been announced Alfre Woodard will play Dr. Cody.
This is technically the fourth time King’s first foray into the world of vampires has been brought to life on screen. It was originally adapted in the 1970s as a TV mini-series starring David Soul, and featured one of the most iconic iterations of the fiendish Mr. Barlow that has been seen on screen, with blue skin and two central fangs, the image has been seen and mimicked many times since. Rob Lowe and Donald Sutherland headed a second miniseries in the early 2000s, which updated the style and effects but couldn’t really bring the tone and creepiness of the original. More recently, the plot of Salem’s Lot was interwoven into the plot of King based TV series Castle Rock‘s second season, which saw the arrival of the vampire being worked around a story of a young Annie Wilkes, best known as being played by Kathy Bates in Misery.
Danish actor Asbaek is no stranger to playing roles that are less than wholesome, so the role of Straker should be a perfect fit. Since his character’s final stand in the finale of Game of Thrones, Pilou Asbaek has starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in the movie Samaritan, and the upcoming I.S.S, a sci-fi movie starring Chris Messina. He will additionally be seen soon in Blumhouse offering Run Sweetheart Run, and in Snafu with Jackie Chan and John Cena.
The new adaptation of Salem’s Lot is expected to arrive in theaters on September 9th, 2022.
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