Zachary Quinto is a soul-sucking monster in NOS4A2 first-look photo

Four decades ago, horror director Tobe Hooper terrified TV viewers with his 1979 adaptation of Stephen King’s vampire novel Salem’s Lot. Now AMC is hoping to chill spines in a similar fashion with this small-screen version of NOS4A2, the 2013 book from King’s son Joe Hill, which reworked the traditional myth of the undead bloodsuckers.

The show stars Zachary Quinto as the ancient, supernaturally powered Charlie Manx, who periodically rejuvenates by feeding on the life forces of children as he transports them to a fantasy world he has created called Christmasland. “In the journey they become these ghoulish creatures, and Charlie Manx is fed with vitality and youth,” says the actor.

Ashleigh Cummings plays the show’s heroine Vic McQueen, who is about to enter her senior year at a high school in Massachusetts. “She’s a working-class kid who has such a creative mind that it actually gives her a kind of superpower,” says showrunner Jami O’Brien. “Charlie Manx becomes aware of her and realizes that she may be bad news for him, so he has to figure out pretty quickly what to do about her.”

While Quinto’s character has vampiric tendencies, the show’s title — a riff on the name of F.W. Murnau’s classic horror film Nosferatu — directly refers to the vanity plate on Manx’s car, a 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith. “The car has a very special relationship with Charlie Manx,” says O’Brien. “I would describe them as partners in crime.”

This initial 10-part tale premieres in the summer of 2019 and, if it proves a success, O’Brien hopes to expand the universe created by Hill in future seasons. “There’s no limit to the number of folks that we could meet that have interesting powers and interesting landscapes that they inhabit,” says O’Brien.

See an exclusive image of Quinto in NOS4A2, below.

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