According to writer/producer Mark B. Perry (The Wonder Years, Picket Fences), rather than being a remake or reboot, Dark Shadows: Reincarnation is actually a continuation of the original 1966 to 1971 daytime Gothic horror soap opera, all of which he considers canon.
"Barnabas, Angelique and Josette is the greatest Gothic horror triangle, and it's such a great origin story, but it's been told and I want to move on from that," he explains in an exclusive interview. "There's a whole generation of Collins I'm interested in. I had the opportunity to actually do an elevator pitch on the show. We were in a high-rise building and had to go up to the conference room to do the pitch. We got in the elevator with the executives that I was going to be pitching to, and one of them turned to me and said, 'what's the elevator pitch?' And I said it's a modern day Downton Abbey if it was written by Stephen King.' That's how I'm kind of picturing it, as this wealthy family with supernatural issues, but it's a multi-generational show with a supernatural twist to it.
"It's not a vampire show," he adds. "Dark Shadows was not a vampire show. It had a lead character that was a vampire, and he certainly became one of the biggest presences on the show, but ther were werewolves and witches and zombies and everything else. I envisioned the show continuing that tradition of being a Gothic horror romance ensemble show where the door is open for any kind of literary references, characters or creatures. Barnabas being the first vampire with a conscience, he let us see the human side of being a monster. I'm really intrigued by what makes monsters human and humans monsters,w hich is one of the things I'm exploring in the new series."
The primary question on the minds of many is, given that Dark Shadows: Reincarnation is about a new generation of the Collins family, will Barnabas be a part of it? Perry comments, "In this day and age, can you imagine showing up at the mansion of a wealthy family and saying, 'I'm a cousin from England?' A quick Google search and you're done. I don't care what portrait you look like. I do want to be cagey about this, but there are Easter eggs in the pilot of the show. And ultimately I do not believe you can do Dark Shadows without Barnabas."
More to come in the near future.
Fear HQ, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.