Ian Somerhalder to Star in Netflix’s Vampire Drama Series ‘V-Wars’

Well, Ian Somerhalder officially has a thing. And that thing is vampire TV shows.

After starring as Damon Salvatore in 171 episodes of CW’s The Vampire Diaries, the actor is moving on to yet another blood-sucking TV project. According to a new report from Deadline, Somerhalder has landed the lead role in a new Netflix series called V-Wars.

Netflix has ordered V-Wars straight to series, with ten hour-long episodes set for production.

V-Wars is based on the IDW book by Jonathan Maberry, and chronicles the stories of the “first Vampire War.” Somerhalder will star as Dr. Luther Swann, who gets caught up in a world of mystery and horror when his best friend, Michael Fayne, is transformed into a deadly predator after contracting an unknown disease. That disease spreads wide, causing more people to transform, and society to fracture. A war eventually breaks out between the people and the so-called “Vampires,” and Swann is stuck in the middle. It’s up to him to figure out what’s happening, and how to stop the disease. Unfortunately for him, Michael rises to power as an underground leader of the vampires, putting Swann in a difficult spot.

“We could not have dreamed of a better choice than Ian Somerhalder to bring his keen understanding of this genre from his years of starring in The Vampire Diaries to lead the cast of V-Wars as Dr. Luther Swann and to be a creative force on this series, as well as to serve as a director this season,” said David Ozer, President, IDW Entertainment. “We are thrilled to partner with Netflix to bring the multifaceted world that Jonathan Maberry created to audiences worldwide.”

Brad Turner (Stargate Atlantis, 24) is set to direct the pilot episode, and will serve as an executive producer on the series. William Laurin and Glenn Davis have been tapped as showrunners. Eric Birnberg and Thomas Walden are executive producing for High Park Entertainment, while David Ozer and Ted Adams will serve in that capacity for IDW Entertainment. James Gibb will executive produce for Marada Pictures.

There is currently no expected release date for V-Wars, but it’s highly likely that Netflix will release the entire first season at once, as the company does with most of its original programming.

Are you excited for Ian Somerhalder to return to the world of vampire TV? Will you be watching V-Wars when it debuts? Let us know what you think by dropping a comment below!