'Carnivale' Creator Daniel Knauf Hired to Run NBC’s 'Dracula'

Looks like writer, director, comic book author and “Carnivàle” creator Daniel Knauf has a new gig. Since Knauf’s mystical Depression-era series was canceled by HBO seven years ago, he’s been scripting for shows like “Supernatural,” “Standoff,” “My Own Worst Enemy” and “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” (on which he also served as a consulting producer). He’s also written issues of “Iron Man” for Marvel Comics alongside his son Charles Knauf.

His new job is a high profile one — as reported by Deadline, he’ll be working as showrunner and head writer on NBC’s upcoming series “Dracula.”

READ MORE: Jonathan Rhys Meyers Will Play a (Probably Sexy) Vampire on NBC’s ‘Dracula’

The 10-episode drama, which was given a straight-to-series order in July, was created by Cole Haddon and will star Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the titular vampire. The show’s a US/UK co-production that will air in Britain on Sky Living.

“Dracula” is set in London at the turn of the century, with the vampire arriving in Victorian English posing as an American entrepreneur looking for revenge against those who ruined his life centuries before. He falls in love with a woman who appears to be a reincarnation of his late wife.

In 2010, Knauf was brought on to write a TV miniseries adaptation of Trent Reznor’s music and game project “Year Zero,” which was in development at HBO and BBC Worldwide. “Carnivàle,” Knauf’s gorgeous and completely bewildering supernatural period drama starring Nick Stahl and Clancy Brown as apparent incarnations of good and evil wandering through the 1930s Dust Bowl, ran two seasons on HBO from 2003 through 2005. He’s proven himself to have an interesting eye for gothic tales, so he’s certainly a promising addition to NBC’s project.

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