''V Wars'' is a 2019 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

horror streaming television series based on the anthology series of the same name and

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

by Jonathan Maberry. The series stars Ian Somerhalder, Adrian Holmes, Jacky Lai, Kyle Breitkopf,

Peter Outerbridge Peter Outerbridge (born June 30, 1966) is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Ari Tasarov in the CW action series ''Nikita'', Dr. David Sandström in the TMN series ''ReGenesis'', Henrik "Hank" Johanssen in ''Orphan Black'', Bob Corbett ...

, Kimberly-Sue Murray and Sydney Meyer. It premiered on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

on December 5, 2019. The series was canceled after one season, in March 2020.

Synopsis

''V Wars'' follows the story of the physician/scientist Dr. Luther Swann, and his best friend Michael Fayne, as they face the evolving crisis of a deadly outbreak that fractures society into opposing factions, potentially escalating to a future war between humans and vampires. The outbreak is caused by an ancient biological infectious agent, a prion, that turns humans into vampires, released from ice by

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. In the conflict, the vampire faction, called Blood, is opposed by the elements of the government, such as Calix Niklos (

) who plots with anti Blood senator Smythe (

Ted Atherton Ted Atherton is a Canadian actor. He is best known as Myles Leland III in the TV series '' Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye''. Early life He moved with his family to Scarborough, Ontario when he was 13. He went to the University of Toronto and obtained a bac ...

Cast and characters

Main

* Ian Somerhalder as Dr. Luther Swann * Adrian Holmes as Michael Fayne *

Laura Vandervoort Laura Dianne Vandervoort (born September 22, 1984) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Sadie Harrison in the CTV teen drama series ''Instant Star'', Arla "The Bolt-Gun Killer" Cogan in the Syfy supernatural drama series '' ...

as Mila Dubov *Kimberly-Sue Murray as Danika Dubov * Sydney Meyer as Ava O'Malley *

Michael Greyeyes Michael Greyeyes (born June 4, 1967) (Muskeg Lake Cree Nation) is an Indigenous Canadian actor, dancer, choreographer, director, and educator. In 1996, Greyeyes portrayed Crazy Horse in the television film ''Crazy Horse''. In 2018, Greyeyes port ...

as Jimmy Saint *Jacky Lai as Kaylee Vo * Kyle Breitkopf as Desmond "Dez" Swann *

as Calix Niklos *

Kandyse McClure Candice McClure (born 22 March 1980), known professionally as Kandyse McClure, is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as Anastasia Dualla in the SyFy series ''Battlestar Galactica'' and as Dr. Clementine Chasseur in the Netflix series ...

as Claire O'Hagan

Recurring

* Emmanuel Kabongo as Jack Fields *

Jessica Harmon Jessica Harmon (born December 27, 1985) is a Canadian actress and director. She portrayed Esrin in the Syfy science fiction web series '' Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy'' (2008–2009), FBI Agent Dale Bozzio in the CW supernatural ...

as Jess Swann *

Greg Bryk Gregory Michael Bryk (born 19 August 1972) is a Canadian film and television actor. He has appeared in numerous films and television series and is best known for his reoccurring roles in '' ReGenesis'' (2004–2008), '' XIII: The Series'' (2 ...

as Bobby *Teddy Moynihan as Jergen Weber *

as Elegabulus *Jonathan Higgins as General Aldous May *Samantha Liana Cole as Theresa *

Laura de Carteret Laura de Carteret is a Canadian actress from St. Catharines, Ontario. She is most noted for her recurring role as Janet in the television series ''Seed'', for which she was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Se ...

as Senator Sasha Giroux *Bo Martyn as Detective Elysse Chambers *

Nikki Reed Nicole Houston Reed (born May 17, 1988) is an American actress known for her portrayal of vampire Rosalie Hale in '' The Twilight Saga'' (2008–2012). She became known in 2003, after the release of the film ''Thirteen'', directed by Catherine ...

as Rachel Swann

Episodes

Production

Development

On April 16, 2018, it was announced that

had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The series was created by William Laurin and Glenn Davis, who are credited as the showrunners and executive producers of the series. Additional executive producers were set to include Brad Turner, Eric Birnberg, Thomas Walden, David Ozer, Ted Adams and James Gibb. Production companies involved with the series include High Park Entertainment and

IDW Entertainment IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...

. Netflix canceled the series after one season, on March 30, 2020.

Casting

In April 2018, Ian Somerhalder was cast in the role of Dr. Luther Swann. In June 2018, Adrian Holmes, Jacky Lai and

joined the main cast. In July 2018,

, Kyle Breitkopf and Kimberly-Sue Murray were cast in the series.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in Sudbury and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, Ontario in the end of June 2018. Principal photography wrapped in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in October 2018.

Releases

Anthology series

There have been four anthologies, edited by Jonathan Maberry and published by IDW Publishing, in the ''V Wars'' series. Notable authors who contributed short stories to the series include Maberry,

Jennifer Brozek Jennifer Brozek (born December 9, 1970) is an American freelance author, game design writer, editor, and small press publisher. Career Before becoming a full-time writer, Brozek was a software QA engineer working on a wide range of projects, inc ...

Larry Correia Larry Correia is an American fantasy and science fiction writer, known for his ''Monster Hunter International'', ''Grimnoir Chronicles'', and ''Saga of the Forgotten Warrior'' series. He has authored or co-authored over 20 novels, has over 50 pub ...

, Keith R. A. DeCandido, John Everson,

Gregory Frost Gregory Frost (born May 13, 1951) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy, and directs a fiction writing workshop at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa. A g ...

Nancy Holder Nancy Holder (born August 29, 1953) is an American writer and the author of several novels, including numerous tie-in books based on the TV series '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. She's also written fiction related to several other science fiction ...

Jeff Mariotte Jeff Mariotte (born 1955) is an author who lives in Arizona. As well as his own original work, he is best known for writing novels and comic books based on licensed properties. Biography Mariotte was born in Park Forest, Illinois, but he moved ...

, Joe McKinney, James A. Moore,

Yvonne Navarro Yvonne Navarro (born 1957 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American author who has published over twenty novels. Of those twenty, the titles ''AfterAge'', ''deadrush'', ''Final Impact'', ''Red Shadows'', ''DeadTimes'', ''That's Not My Name'' and ''M ...

, Scott Nicholson, Weston Ochse, Jeremy Robinson,

Scott Sigler Scott Carl Sigler is an American author of science fiction and horror and a podcaster. Scott is the New York Times #1 bestselling author of sixteen novels, six novellas, and dozens of short stories. He is the co-founder of Empty Set Entertainme ...

, John Skipp, and

Tim Waggoner Tim Waggoner is the author of numerous novels and short stories in the Fantasy, Horror, and Thriller genres. Education Waggoner graduated from Wright State University in 1989 with a Master of Arts in English with a Creative Writing Concentra ...

. *''V Wars'' (May 2012, ) *''V Wars: Blood and Fire'' (July 2014, ) *''V Wars: Night Terrors'' (March 2015, ) *''V Wars: Shockwaves'' (August 2016, )

Comic series

The ''V Wars'' comics series was released in 11 issues by IDW from April 2014 through March 2015. They have been collected in the following volumes: *''V Wars: Crimson Queen'' (October 2014, ) *''V Wars: All of Us Monsters'' (May 2015, ) An omnibus volume containing all 11 issues was also released: *''V Wars: The Graphic Novel Collection'' (May 2019, )

TV series

On November 19, 2019, the official trailer for the series was released by Netflix. The series was released on December 5, 2019.

Reception

Critical reviews are mixed. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series holds a critic approval rating of 56%, with an average rating of 6.73/10, based on nine reviews. Isaac Feldberg at ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' enjoyed it, calling it "unabashedly silly...a fun, freaky B-movie stretched out to series’ length". ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' reviewer, Brad Newsome, was less kind in calling it a "a frustrating thing" that doesn't deliver on its promises. Andrew Dex at '' Starburst'' criticized the weak character development and mix of seemingly-unrelated side characters while also praising the growing strength of the series by the end of the season. In her review for ''Film Inquiry'', Stephanie Archer stated "the series left much to be desired" and that there was "an immediate disconnect with Dr. Swann, played by Somerhalder". Vincent Schilling of ''

Indian Country Today ''ICT News'' (formerly known as ''Indian Country Today'') is a daily digital news platform that covers the Indigenous world, including American Indians, Alaska Natives and First Nations. It was founded in 1981 as a weekly print newspaper, ''The ...

'', on the other hand, praised the casting of Somerhalder and Michael Greyeyes, stating he was "hooked from the beginning". He goes on to say that the "show is a blast". Dustin Rowles at ''Pajiba'' described the series as "very low-rent", "poorly written", and "humorless". Mikel Zorilla of the Spanish-language web magazine ''Espinof'' criticized the series' lack of focus, saying it had potential but failed to do anything to stand out. ''

WhatCulture WhatCulture Ltd. is an online entertainment news website and magazine which was launched in 2010. The site offers news in the field of professional wrestling, television, films, video games, and board games. History Originally started by Peter ...

'' described the series "a thrilling well-paced ride... nddamn good fun that compels you to keep watching" despite "moments that temporarily draw focus from the plot and leave you scratching your head".

References

External links

* * {{IDW Publishing 2010s American drama television series 2010s American supernatural television series 2010s American horror television series 2010s American science fiction television series 2019 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings American horror fiction television series American thriller television series Serial drama television series Television shows based on comics IDW Publishing adaptations English-language Netflix original programming Television shows filmed in Toronto Television shows filmed in Greater Sudbury Vampires in television Apocalyptic television series Dark fantasy television series American action television series Television shows set in the United States Dark fantasy web series Thriller web series Horror fiction web series