Sherlock series creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat will reportedly turn their attention from the world’s most famous detective to the world’s most famous vampire with a new television show based on the legend of Dracula.
Variety reports that the duo will reunite for a miniseries based on Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale. The show is expected to use a similar format as Sherlock, with just a few feature-length episodes in a single season.
According to the report, Gatiss and Moffat are currently engaged in talks with the BBC to broadcast the Dracula project, and the formal writing stage of development has not yet begun.
The Dracula series would bring Gatiss and Moffat together for the first time since the final episode of Sherlock aired in January 2017. Given the status of Sherlock as one of the most-watched programs in U.K. history, another project based on a legendary Victorian character with the same creative team behind the camera would seem like a logical stepfor the BBC and the show’s producers.
If the report proves true, the BBC might indeed have another hit on its hands, given the overwhelmingly positive reception to Sherlock over the course of the show’s four seasons. Only 14 episodes of the series were produced, but it still managed to earn 35 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning nine times — including Emmy Awards for stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Acto categories, respectively.
Along with winning multiple British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, the show also received the prestigious Peabody Award in 2011 for its premiere episode, “A Study in Pink.”
With the Dracula project at such an early stage, it’s unknown at this point whether the series would transport the character and his story to the modern age in the same way Sherlock did, or if the team would take a different approach. Gatiss, who also appeared on Sherlock as Sherlock Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, previously appeared in a stage production of Dracula and has reportedly expressed his affinity for the 1958 Hammer Films classic Horror of Dracula, which cast Christopher Lee in the title role.
