THE PASSAGE
Justin Cronin’s vampire apo Calypse the passage is heading to tv. tara Bennett takes a Bite
Justin Cronin’s “impossible to film” tale of vampires and viruses is now infecting television – and we’ve already succumbed!
Back in 2010, novelist Justin cronin wowed both literary circles and genre fans with The Passage, his enthralling riff on the oft-told post-apocalyptic vampire narrative. Pinning the downfall of humanity on a virus that turns everyone vampiric, cronin split the book into two parts: before the outbreak and a 93-year jump post outbreak. at the centre of it all is six-year-old amy Bellafonte, whom the us government’s Project noah team has isolated as having an immune system that could save the world. the only problem is that FBi agent Brad Wolgast grows a conscience after fetching the child for delivery, and chaos ensues.
Because of its massive time jumps, epic narrative and non-linear storytelling, The Passage was deemed impossible to adapt as a film, but then ridley scott’s company decided to try it as a tv series instead. Cloverfield director Matt reeves jumped on as an executive producer, and liz Heldens tackled the pilot and showrunning the series.
“i am such a big fan of these books,” Heldens tells SFX. “i really want people who love the books to love the show. But that said, this is a hard adaptation.” Heldens admits that in the beginning it was uphill climb to get it right creatively.
“the book actually gives you a pretty nice, clear structure in the first section,” she explains. “You’re building to this showdown between the virals and the scientists of Project noah, so my first take was to tell it simultaneously in two timelines. When we shot that and put that all together in the broadcast time constraints of 43 minutes, it just felt like it was hard to know where to put your focus. there wasn’t enough time to sit and connect with what was working. nevertheless, there was so much that was undeniable about what we shot.
“there was so much that was working,” she clarifies. “We all took a breath, and Fox said, ‘Go put a little [writers] room together. take a month. Go find your show.’ so, we went and talked about what does the first season of Project noah look like? Why do these people need a little kid so bad? and who are the people we want to shine the lights on Project noah? What is the backstory you want to know?”
answering those more intimate questions led to clarity. Heldens says, “knowing we’re going to make the story smaller, we’re just going to tell it linear, which is exciting.” and it brought into focus the credibility of Project noah, and its leader, Dr sykes (caroline chikezie).
“that was a really hard part to find because we needed somebody who you believed actually had the weight and the presence and the intelligence,” Heldens explains. “and that was not easy. caroline chikezie came in and we were like, ‘i believe she’s in charge of this.’ i think a lot of people watching the show will think Dr sykes is a bad person, but she’s got a justifiable point of view.”
With that story cracked, the writers leaned into amy and Wolgast meeting, and then going on the road, where their relationship builds organically.
Heldens consulted with cronin, who gave his blessing to her way into the story for tv audiences. “My editor put it beautifully,” cronin tells SFX. “He said, ‘amy and Wolgast each have a hole in their lives that the other perfectly fills.’ the whole point of the Wolgast/amy relationship is that he can’t get away with anything with her. she puts him to the test. the amy in the book is younger and does that through the weird, intense honesty that you can get out of a little kid. i got that out of my kid all the time. and well, Wolgast is based on me.”
in fact, cronin adds, “i didn’t write these books as a vampire story, or genre in particular. i wrote this as a father/daughter novel, and the reason i did that is because i constructed the story of The Passage over a period of three months, an hour every day, with my eight-yearold daughter who was riding her bicycle, and i was running beside her. We were playing a game called “let’s make a novel”, as she had dared me to write a story about a girl who saves the world. coincidentally, i had been writing a novel that was going rather badly, so we put this together. so, it is a father/daughter story because it was a father and daughter who constructed it. it came out of that relationship.”
perfect pair
With the weight of that real-life relationship riding on them, finding the right amy and Wolgast for the show was the next thing to tackle. Heldens says, “i thought casting was going to be the hardest part, but it was the first thing we got right. it was a pretty big net for amy but saniyya sidney came in with the first batch of girls that we looked at and she just took it. You want somebody to come in and say, ‘this is my part.’ and she just told us it was her part, and she was right,” Heldens laughs. “she’s just so honest. it never feels forced. it’s just really lovely.”
Mark-Paul Gosselaar was cast as Wolgast. “the best things that happened to us was Mark-Paul and saniyya,” Heldens enthuses. “they are just lovely together. they are funny, casual and honest, and neither one of them tries too hard. that part really works. “and as much as it’s kind of scary and we don’t want anything bad to happen to amy, and we want to follow her through this, at the same time, when you’re in those scenes, they’re some of the most hopeful and buoyant scenes in the show, and that actually makes us feel really good writing them.” Watching Wolgast’s protectiveness for amy bloom, and his promise to watch over her best interests, is another quality that Heldens says make the show unique. “i do think in a weird way that is part of the wish fulfilment of the show. Here’s this man who is going to keep his promises, and there is something about that today that is somehow fantasy,” she smiles. Heldens also promises that book readers will get plenty of surprises from their adaptation as well. “We’re expanding [the book]. We’re going to start stories that aren’t in the book but it’s all coming from the characters that are in the book. it’s about what they want. What’s the baggage that they’re bringing into the future? i feel like we’ve been provided this wonderful map, and in some cases, we’ll just do what was in the book for sure. But in other cases, i think we can expand and augment and go a little deeper.”
taking their time
and what about that crazy jump in time that would essentially negate the contemporary cast from the series? that’s just about unheard of in non-anthology television, and much less one trying to establish audience loyalty and investment in its characters. Heldens admits, “Yeah, i was nervous about that jump for a tv audience. But we’re going to find ways for characters at Project noah to make that leap. We’re going to find ways to do that so there’s some continuity between seasons. and that’s really exciting. to just go from modern day to next season is something completely different.” and that also means that Heldens doesn’t have to race through cronin’s now complete The Passage trilogy to try to achieve a strict one book to one season adaptation. instead, she envisions the first novel alone as the source material for three separate tv seasons. “it’s Project noah, the colony, and then the last section of the book,” she says ticking off her idea of the template for the trajectory of the show if audiences embrace it and the series gets picked up for more seasons. But for now, Heldens says they have ten hours to tell an origin story that is incredibly compelling in its own right. “i feel like we’re turning out a nice, tight, twisty first season of television.”