‘John Wick’ Writer Derek Kolstad Adapting ‘Hellsing’, the Japanese Manga That Reimagines the Dracula Story

Hellsing, a Japanese manga which put a unique spin on the Dracula mythology, is getting a Hollywood movie adaptation.

Derek Kolstad, who wrote the John Wick films and is a staff writer on Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, will write the script for a Hellsing movie for Amazon Studios. The film will be based on the manga, which was written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano and was published from 1997 until 2008.

Deadline reports that Kolstad will work to adapt Hellsing into a movie for Amazon. According to the outlet, the story “reimagines Dracula as Alucard, a special agent bound to The Hellsing Organization, under the leadership of Integra Hellsing, great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, to aid them in their mission to protect England and the world from vampires, ghouls, and other supernatural threats. The manga also focuses on Hellsing’s newest recruit, a female ex-police officer named Seras Victoria.” The story also involves “the remnants of a Nazi group called Millennium” who are still around and who want to revive Nazi Germany by using an army of vampires.

“Ever since my brother introduced me to the Hellsing manga and anime some years ago, I’ve been obsessed with adapting it,” Kolstad said in a statement. “And when Mike Callaghan and his team managed to secure the rights to then partner us up with Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Amazon, I mean – damn, dude – this is a dream.”

I have not read Hellsing myself, but it’s described as “an exhilarating, quirky mashup of action and horror,” and Kavanaugh-Jones – whose credits include films like Bad Education, Honey Boy, Destroyer, and many more – says that Kolstad is uniquely qualified to handle this adaptation. “Derek is an exceptional writer and we are so excited to partner with him on what he does very best – building rich mythology filled with iconic characters.”

Hellsing has been adapted into an anime series and an OVA (original video animation) already, but this will be the first live-action adaptation of the project. It’s the latest Dracula or Dracula-adjacent project in the works in Hollywood, joining the long-delayed The Last Voyage of the Demeter, an untitled sci-fi western take on Dracula from Nomadland director Chloé Zhao, and a separate Dracula project from Destroyer and The Invitation filmmaker Karyn Kusama that she’s making for Blumhouse. If you absolutely can’t wait for more Dracula content, you can also check out the reimagined TV series that debuted on Netflix last year.

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