‘Let The Right One In’: Showrunner Andrew Hinderaker Discusses The New Vampire Series & His Time On ‘Penny Dreadful’ [Bingeworthy Podcast]

In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast, host Mike DeAngelo sinks his teeth into Showtime’s new vampire series, “Let the Right One In.” The show follows a father and a 12-year-old girl who traditionally live a closed-off life after the daughter is turned into a vampire as they return home to New York City and the lives they once had. The series stars Demián Bichir, Madison Taylor Baez, Anika Noni Rose, Grace Gummer, Nick Stahl, and more. 

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“Let the Right One In” showrunner Andrew Hinderaker joins the podcast to discuss how and why he had to get involved with the long-form adaptation of the beloved novel and pair of films.

“I was in one of those general meetings that television writers have with the good folks at Tomorrow Studios,” Hinderaker shared.  “And they were mentioning a couple of projects and properties that they had and then, offhandedly, ‘Let the Right One In” – not as something they were presenting to me, in fact, it was something that they had attempted, it didn’t quite work for them, they were shelving it. The moment I heard those words, I stopped them and said, ‘I’m so sorry – I know that we’re talking about other things today…I’m not going to hear another thing that you say, so what I would love to do is go home right now, re-watch the film, see if it still speaks to me the way that it spoke to me when I saw it and when I read the novel, and if that is true, I’d love to tell you about why and if that interest you, wonderful. If it doesn’t, don’t worry about it.’ They said, ‘Well, we not really looking…’ I said, ‘I totally hear you. This is what I’m going to do.’”

Hinderaker continued to explain why he couldn’t pass up the project.

“It speaks to me as an artist, it inspires me as an artist and revisiting the film, it inspired me in even deeper, more personal ways,” he added. “I felt like the way it was hitting on loneliness and connection and darkness and light and, in particular, in sort of new ways, the way it was kind of working as a parable of addiction.”

Hinderaker also got his start in television as one of the two writers that writer/showrunner John Logan brought on for Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful,” which acted as Hinderaker’s film school and boot camp that prepared him for his career ahead.

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“Not only did we work with John [Logan] on Season 3, but he had us on set for every single day of production, so we had no idea that this was a completely abnormal experience,” Hinderaker said. “John would have big, bold asks and say, ‘Let’s just break the season for this character and come back tomorrow with the idea.’ And so, Krysty [Wilson-Cairns] and I would bounce ideas off each other and really, it was thrilling to work with her and for John [Logan], they both are such brilliant minds…it was basically being thrown into the deep end of the ocean, but by the most extraordinary, most generous, and most talented mentor…I can’t emphasize what an extraordinary gift that is, because I came out of my first television writing experience with more time on-set and more of a bird’s eye view to production meetings, prep than most high-level writers have after ten years.”

The first episode of “Let the Right One In” is now streaming free on Showtime’s YouTube page, with new episodes premiering on Showtime each week. You can listen to the entire podcast interview below:

Bingeworthy is part of The Playlist Podcast Network, which includes The Playlist Podcast, Be Reel, Deep Focus, The Fourth Wall, The Discourse & more. We can be heard on Apple Podcasts, AnchorFM, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, and most places where podcasts are found. You can stream the podcast via the embed within the article or click on the lead image at the top page. Be sure to subscribe and drop us a comment or a rating, as we greatly appreciate it. Thank you for listening.