‘Frankenstein’: Fox Gives Title Role to ‘True Blood’ Actor Rob Kazinsky

Rob Kazinsky, 31, best known for his roles in the TV series True Blood and in the film Pacific Rim is set to play the lead role in Fox's pilot scifi-supernatural-thriller police procedural drama Frankenstein.

Created and developed for the small-screen by Rand Ravich (Crisis) and Howard Gordon (Homeland), Frankenstein centers on the story of Ray Pritchard (played by Kazinsky), a morally corrupt retired cop, who is given a second chance at life when he is brought back from the dead. Now younger and stronger, Pritchard will have to choose between his old temptations and his new sense of purpose, according to the network's plot outline. Ravich will pen the script and executive produce with Gordon and his 20th Century Fox Television-based Teakwood Lane banner. Teakwood's Hugh Fitzpatrick will co-executive produce the pilot.

The Pritchard character is further described as "athletic, strong and handsome." As the "Frankenstein "monster," he is the reanimated version of a much older Pritchard, a former Marine and county sheriff who was recently murdered. Brought back from the dead, he may have a new body, "but his mind is still that of a 75-year-old badass curmudgeon" according to the character's description.

Kazinsky joins Adhir Kalyan, 31, in the Frankenstein cast. Kalyan, best known for his role in Rules of Engagement, will reportedly play the role of the "quiet and brilliant internet billionaire who plays a key role in reanimating" the corpse of Kazinsky's Pritchard, according to Den of Geek. He will, added the entertainment news site, also have a twin sister called Mary assisting with the reanimation procedure.

In related news, ITV is also developing its own TV adaptation of Mary Shelley's famous Gothic horror classic. Titled The Frankenstein Chronicles, the six-part period-set miniseries has been created by Benjamin Ross and Barry Langford and will star Sean Bean as Inspector John Marlott. Others confirmed in the cast include Kate Dickie, Patrick Fitzsymons, Ryan Sampson, Charlie Creed-Miles, Ed Stoppard and Steve Wilson.