[The following contains spoilers for the Netflix series Hemlock Grove]
For those of us who can’t get enough of vampires in entertainment, this has not been a disappointing year; True Blood found its stride again, The Vampire Diaries spawned The Originals, and NBC decided to unapologetically turn up the sexy on Dracula. But one of the most incredible surprises was the emergence of Netflix as a major player in original programming, and the dark and twisted ride it gave us called Hemlock Grove. Not your typical vampire story, Hemlock Grove never failed to keep us on our toes with their version of the “upir”. While not defined in depth in the narrative of the show, by the end, you get a sense of what an upir truly is.
Symbolically parallel to the ouroboros used in the show’s logo, an upir (Russian in mythological origin) is a vampiric creature defined as a “dragon who feeds off humans, but must die by its own hands to awaken its true powers”. Additionally, an upir is a day-walker, not only infamous for its especially vicious nature, but its ability to hypnotize; all elements which were explored to some extent through Roman Godfrey (Bill Skarsgård) and his mother Olivia (Famke Janssen) – the upirs of Hemlock Grove.
Last month, Netflix sat down with the cast and presented them with fan questions. While no spoilers for season 2 were revealed in the interview, it does give you a sense of how they approached season 1.
So, what about season 2? On the brink of shooting the new season, Executive Producer Eli Roth had a few words for The Hollywood Reporter about tying up loose ends, and moving forward:
“Once that murder is solved, which it is, it opens up a much larger mythology that gets played out over several seasons. We wanted to write something that would be deep and that would give the fans something that’s worthwhile to dig into.”
No date has been set yet, but season 2 of Hemlock Grove is expected to premiere on Netflix, in its entirety, sometime in 2014.
Stay tuned for the latest, here on The Vampire Source.
[Photo Credit: Netflix | Source: THR]