Attention, Vampire Diaries fans: Alaric Saltzman may be dead, but Matt Davis lives! On The CW, no less!

Cult will premiere in January - network President Mark Pedowitz told me it's the sort of drama he wants to run for 13 consecutive episodes - and it features Davis as an investigative journalist looking into the mysterious death of his brother.

Along the way, he'll come across Jessica Lucas' Skye Yarrow, who works on a television show also titled Cult; and Robert Knepper as Billy Grimm, the creepy star of this series-within-a-series.

Is someone out there recreating storylines from the show? Is that someone Grimm? Davis told the audience today at The CW Upfront that Knepper will "scare the crap" out of viewers and anyone who saw him in Prison Break will understand why.

We'll post footage from Cult when it comes available, but check out the first official cast image now:

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.