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The Swedish horror movie Let the Right One In inspired an American movie remake, Let Me In. Now it has inspired a new Showtime series. The Let the Right One In TV show is still about a vampire child, who will appear young forever, sort of like Claudia in Interview with the Vampire. The show has more time to go in different directions than either movie, though. 

'Let the Right One In' TV Show: Eleanor (Madison Taylor Baez) tries to bite Isaiah (Ian Foreman)
Ian Foreman and Madison Taylor Baez | Francisco Roman/Showtime

Showrunner Andrew Hinderaker and executive producer/director Seith Mann were on a Television Critics Association Zoom panel for Let the Right One In on Sept. 20. They discussed some of the differences between the movie and their show. Let the Right One In airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime. 

The ‘Let the Right One In’ TV show explores more of the vampire/caretaker relationship

In the show, Demián Bichir plays Mark Kane, the human father to Eleanor (Madison Tayler Baez). Mark obtains blood to feed his daughter. They correspond to the characters played by Per Ragnar and Lina Leandersson in the film, but you’re going to learn a lot more about them on the show. 

“I was really interested in exploring addiction and exploring what a parent will do for a child when they are struggling with addiction,” Hinderaker said. “And it felt like this incredible gift to take what was in the foundations and in the seeds of the film and create an entirely new story that would be centered around Demián’s character Mark and Madison’s character Eleanor and explore the lengths that this father would go to to keep his daughter alive. “

‘Let the Right One In’ lets a lot more characters in

The movie was a pretty tight circle of the vampire, her father, the bullied boy she befriends and the boy’s mother. The Showtime Let the Right One In has room for many more characters.

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“In terms of the story, we have a brand new set of characters,” Hinderaker said. “It is set in New York City in the present day. We’ve really expanded the mythology of the show to bring in these extraordinary characters of Naomi [Anika Noni Rose] and Isaiah Cole [Ian Foreman] and then a whole other set of family of vampires or a family that supports a vampire that’s led by Grace [Gummer]’s character, Claire Logan. And, so, it’s a new story that really is at the same time very much a love letter to the film.”

The character dynamics are different 

Mann explained how there are different dynamics even between characters who are similar to those in the film. In particular, Mann feels Eleanor’s relationship with the human boy, Isaiah, will be different in the show. 

“That relationship even still, I felt like, was more predatorial than the friendship, the genuine friendship that forms between our Eleanor and Isaiah,” Mann said. “On top of that, we have the relationship between Mark and Eleanor and Arthur [Zeljko Ivanek] and Claire and Peter [Jacob Buster]. And Naomi’s character is much more present. There’s a lot of love in the story.”

So those are some subtle and overt differences between the movie and the show. Fans of the movie may debate Mann on its vampire’s intentions, but adding an ensemble of characters undoubtedly expands the world of Let the Right One In.

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