As the premiere of the TV show remake of Robert Rodriguez’ crime drama/road movie/vampire flick From Dusk Till Dawn is a little over a week away, a set of posters have been released to reintroduce audiences to characters they may not have seen in going on 20 years (and I now feel old).

Seth & Ritchie Gecko

 

DJ Cotrona (the one who looks like Zachary Quinto) and Zane Holtz (the one who looks like Cillian Murphy) take on the roles of the ruthless criminal brothers so memorably originated by George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino.

As implied by the trailer, part of the expansion of the series seems to be that Ritchie’s hallucinations have been readjusted to be prophetic visions rather than the schizophrenic disassociations of an unstable maniac. It’s also probable that his sexual deviancy will be toned down, lest the show undertakes the Sisyphean task of attempting to make you empathise with a rapist.

The Fullers

 

In an extreme case of wrong place and wrong time, a faithless preacher and his two children are taken hostage by Seth and Ritchie and forced to smuggle them over the border.

Although father Jacob was originally played by Harvey Keitel, the replacement of Robert Patrick is more than appropriate, as both men are several separate kinds of awesome. As the kids Scott and Kate, Brandon Soo Hoo was previously the young Storm Shadow in GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra and the psychotic pubescent gangster Tran in Tropic Thunder, while Madison Davenport has mostly done voice acting and TV films. And yes, if you were so inclined you could argue she’s superficially similar in appearance to Kristin Stewart, but this should be offset by the fact she’s holding a frickin’ chainsaw.

Carlos Madrigal

 

The final of Cheech Marin’s three FDTD characters, the crime lord has been reworked to be a vampire in this version and will thus play a significantly larger part in the plot, possibly including details of his hold over the criminal haven of El Rey that the Geckos originally intended to escape to. He will be played by Wilmer Valderrama, who was in That ‘70s Show as foreign exchange student Fez and short-lived headscrew crime drama Awake as red-reality main character Efrem Vega.

Santanico Pandemonium

The role that made everyone immediately sit up and take notice of Salma Hayek largely consisted of a mesmerising lap dance sequence that takes on much greater significance once you learn of Tarantino’s foot fetish. “Lowly dog! Bow your head!” barked Danny Trejo before the commencement of her retina-searing gyrations.

Her history was slightly expanded upon as the titular character in prequel From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter, showing how she initially came to become the bar’s vampire queen. Now played by Mexican telenova star Eiza González, the series will likely delve into this and beyond.

The Law

 

Earl McGraw and Freddie Gonzalez are two Texas Rangers on the trail of the Geckos. While law enforcement played a minimal role in the film, the fact these two warranted their own poster is reason enough to assume their presence will be far more extensive.

It seems almost sacrilegious to have Earl McGraw played by someone other than Michael Parks since as well as From Dusk Till Dawn, he also played the character in Planet Terror, Death Proof and Kill Bill (“Son, this tall drink of cocksucker ain’t dead”). However, Don Johnson has previous Rodriguez/Tarantino form via appearing in both Machete and Django Unchained, so the change can probably be forgiven. 

Freddie Gonzalez is one of the series’ few primary characters without a counterpart in the film, but it’s likely he’ll be the young and impulsive one counterbalanced by McGraw’s old and experienced one.

 

The series will have the same basic plot as the film: two criminal brothers escape after a bank robbery leaves a pile of corpses, take a family hostage, flee to Mexico, stop off at a strip club that turns out to be populated by vampires and must survive until sunrise. However, expanding on the final shot of the film, which revealed the bar is situated at the summit of a half-buried Mesoamerican step pyramid (suggesting it was once a temple), the mythology and history behind the events will be further explored with the intent of broadening the scope of the series in order to sustain it once the frenetic action is over and dawn has arrived.

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