David Fury

NBC Eyes Van Helsing Spinoff

Bob Ducsay, producer of the upcoming monster movie Van Helsing, told SCI FI Wire that NBC is developing a spinoff television series called Transylvania, set in the universe of the summer movie. Transylvania "is related to the film, [but] it’s not the movie for television," Ducsay said in an interview. "It’s the world of Van Helsing. It takes place in the late 1800s, like Van Helsing, and it takes place in Transylvania. But none of the characters intersect. It’s actually a new idea that just takes place in the world [of the movie]."

Stephen Sommers, writer-director of Van Helsing, told SCI FI Wire in a separate interview that he got the inspiration for the proposed TV series on the movie’s elaborate Prague set. "One day we were just sitting on the set, which [production designer] Allan Cameron had built this fantastic village for, and I’m like, ’I’d hate to tear this down,’" Sommers said. "I mean, it’s so fantastic, and I’d hate to bulldoze it. ’We ought to do something with it. Let’s do a television show!’ And that’s when my wheels start spinning."

Van Helsing stars Hugh Jackman as a vampire hunter in 19th-century Europe. Kate Beckinsale co-stars as a gypsy princess. The film features several classic monsters from the Universal Studios film vault, including Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula and the Wolf Man. Sommers and Ducsay are executive producing Transylvania for NBC, which is in the process of buying Vivendi Universal, the parent company of Universal and SCIFI.COM.

NBC had great enthusiasm for Transylvania and brought on board TV veteran David Fury, one of the executive producers of UPN’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to help out. "I wrote the pilot about five months ago, and NBC got all excited," Sommers said. The network ordered six more episodes and asked Sommers to start writing them right away. But Sommers was still in the middle of making Van Helsing and told the network, "’Well, um, I’ve got this movie called Van Helsing that’s kind of big and is taking up a lot of my time, so, ah, no.’" Van Helsing opens May 7.