Yes To This: Emma Roberts Is Working On A New YA Vampire Series For Netflix

Since the success of The Witcher, Netflix has gone all-in on fantasy, from King Arthur legends in Cursed to biblical tales in Warrior Nun. At this point, there are only two things the streamer is missing in terms of fantastical stories of supernatural creatures. It doesn't have a live-action series that includes unicorns in a significant manner, and it doesn't have a vampire show that isn't a straight rendition of Dracula... but the latter need is about to be fulfilled. Netflix and Emma Roberts' First Kill, a brand new series based on a short story by Victoria "V. E." Schwab, will have the blood-sucking soul stealers fans crave.

Schwab's short story was only recently published as part of the anthology book Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite. The collection was designed to push the boundaries of what readers think of as part of the vampire tropes. As the book's liner notes state, "the most famous vampires are predominantly men, white, cisgender, straight, and able-bodied."

In all, there are 11 stories in the book, but Schwab's tale of the teenage vampire Juliette caught the attention of multiple TV execs. In the end, Roberts' production company Belletrist Productions won out on the project, over 18 other entities vying for the rights. Belletrist is a company from Creative Labs, headed up by Roberts and writer and executive producer Karah Preiss. Felicia D. Henderson, who worked on such Netflix shows as The Punisher, will serve as writer, showrunner, and executive producer for the new show.

Here's the show's current synopsis:

When it's time for teenage vampire Juliette to make her first kill so she can take her place among a powerful vampire family, she sets her sights on a new girl in town named Calliope. But much to Juliette's surprise, Calliope is a vampire hunter from a family of celebrated slayers. Both find that the other won't be so easy to kill and, unfortunately, way too easy to fall for...

It's not clear if Belletrist landed the project with plans to have Roberts star in the series in addition to her executive producer position behind the camera. If so, the question then becomes which role she is planning on taking for herself: The vampire or the hunter?

First Kill is expected to consist of eight one-hour episodes. There is no premiere date currently set, but considering how far out Netflix works, it's probably won't arrive until 2022 at the earliest.