“F*cking Vampire Apocalypse.”
Those are the three words leading lady Kelly Overton uses to sum up her new Syfy series Van Helsing. Sure, she also uses the phrase, “Resurrection is a Bitch,” to describe the show, but that’s already on the poster– and we prefer her former, explicit description!
OMFGTV recently had the chance to speak with the star to tease details about the upcoming vampire thriller as well as give us further insight to her titular character.
“A catastrophic volcano erupts, and it creates a dark, ash-filled sky,” Overton tells us. “You have to know that this is a world where vampires exist, and they are living underground, they are not thriving. And the volcano and the 24-hour sunless sky allows them to rise up and do what they do best and overtake America. War ensues and they are winning.”
In the two-hour series premiere, we learn that Overton’s character, Vanessa Helsing, is a descendant of the legendary Van Helsing vampire hunter, a significant piece of information she’s not aware of in the start of the show.
“When we first meet her, she’s in a coma,” she reveals. “And so all she knows is she’s just an ordinary woman, single mom, she has tough breaks and she’s trying to do the best she can with the hand that’s dealt to her and provide her daughter the best life possible.”
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After three years in a coma, Vanessa Helsing awakens to discover she’s in the middle of a vampire apocalypse and that she’s essentially immune.
“Not only is she immune to vampire bites, but she also has this ability to turn them human,” she says. “That’s a big threat to the vampires existence, and also puts a target on her back. So the question of the series becomes, can Vanessa save humanity with the gift she’s been given, will she be a savior or destroyer? Will she accept or reject the powers?”
Van Helsing is a very action-packed, stunt-heavy show, especially for Kelly’s character. She is the threat to the vampires existence so we can assume that she will be fighting lots of vampires throughout the season.
Kelly credits her past TV and Film projects — True Blood, Legends, Tekken — for preparing her for this new role, adding, “Between jobs I’m always working out, I’m staying fit, I’m staying ready. So for this I came in ready.”
“In fact, months before I even got the audition I made the choice to work really hard,” she continues. “I knew I was between jobs and something was coming, I just sensed it. I was like, I’m gonna focus on this right now and I got in the gym and I just started training really hard, it was perfect. When it came along, I was already ready.”
Make sure to check out Kelly’s ass-kicking performance when Van Helsing premieres tonight at 10pm on Syfy.