THE STRAIN -- CR: Russ Martin/FX
What is The Strain?
The Strain is a horror TV series created by legendary director Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo is best known for his work on the films Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy – among many others. This is one of the few TV shows directed by him, and stands up against the others. The Strain is based on the novel trilogy with the same name, written Guillermo del Toro and the TV series co-creator Chuck Hogan. The Strain season 4 was the show’s last.
Following the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, head of CDC’s New York based Canary Project, who’s called upon to investigate a suspicious airplane. It’s immediately clear that everybody on-board is dead when the plane lands. Though no obvious cause of death is available, Goodweather eventually determines a viral outbreak is responsible for the casualties. The virus bears a high resemblance to vampirism. Once it spreads, the fate of the world changes forever.
Dr. Goodweather is played by Corey Stoll (House of Cards) – in charge of tracking down and learning about the virus. Professor Abraham Setrakian, a holocaust survivor turned pawn broker, is played by David Bradley (Game of Thrones). Dr. Nora Martinez is portrayed by Mia Maestro (Scandal). Martinez is also a member of New York’s CDC Canary team, as well as Dr. Ephraim’s closest ally.
Is The Strain season 4 available in the UK?
The first season of The Strain was released all the way back in 2014 on Watch. Now part of the UKTV network and known as W, the broadcaster no longer retains the rights to the show. Watch was the place to go for the first three seasons of The Strain. That was until 2016 however, when the channel chose to stop airing the series. Despite the fact that a fourth season was around the corner!
This led to a lot of distress for fans, as they had no where to get their horror TV fill. Luckily, although it took them a while, Sky stepped in and decided to offer all four seasons as part of a box set. The whole line up can be found here. Those without Sky are now able to access The Strain season 4 through NOW TV as well. Further to this, even steaming giant Amazon has got involved with the ever popular series, offering it on their platform Amazon Prime Video as well. Guillermo del Toro fans can now rejoice with all the options available.