Sean Astin to Fight Vampires on The Strain

Sean Astin is ready to take a bite out of FX.

Producer Carlton Cuse broke the news via Twitter, as Astin will come on board this drama as Jim Jent, a CDC team member who is tasked with containing a mysterious strain of vampirism that is going across Manhattan.

The Strain pilot will be directed by Guillermo del Toro and based on novels he authored with Chuck Hogan.

It will also star John Hurt, Corey Stoll and Mia Maestro, among others, while the official FX description definitely echoes The Walking Dead, in terms of regular people fighting against an outbreak of the supernatural. Check it out here:

The Strain is a high concept thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Stoll), the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. When Eph realizes that this isn’t some new bioterror weapon, but something much older, something outside the reach of science, he teams with Abraham (Hurt) to fight back.

As a plague of hungry and intelligent predators overwhelms New York, Eph, Abraham and a motley crew of everyday New Yorkers form a ragtag resistance – fighting monsters in the streets and in their homes, waging a war for the fate of humanity itself.

No premiere date has been set yet.

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