Questions about the new casting up on the website today…

Well, this is different casting — the previous casting was done by Stephanie Corsalini, but this casting was done in Canada. I don’t know these guys’ work and I haven’t seen auditions or anything like that (which is normal for casting — especially for smaller parts like these! It doesn’t mean anything bad). I had dinner with the guy playing Alaric, Harry van Gorkum, while I was in Toronto. He was very nice.

As for Raphael/The Vampire Lieutenant/Elyas m’Barek, what I’ve been told is that there wasn’t space enough to properly introduce Raphael. Raphael, after all, is not the vampire who actually captures Simon from Magnus’ party. They’re different guys and it was felt there was not room for both. (This isn’t a decision I made or have any control over — when you give over your movie rights you have to accept that decisions about how to adapt your books will be made without you. Scripts are also rewritten up until shooting, and even rewritten on set. They are never final until the film is done shooting.) So Elyas will play TVL, who is a composite of the vampires in the NYC vampire clan. 

Raphael won’t be in this movie but they hope to introduce him in City of Ashes, as he does play a bigger and bigger part in each book. I’m sad not to see Raphael sooner, as I know you all are, but I hope when the time comes he will be introduced in a way that does him justice. There are a lot of talented Latino actors out there who would be great for the part.

Meanwhile, I’m glad to see my German/Austrian fans responding well to the casting of the lieutenant of our absent vampire leader, and very glad that the actor cast was one of color since the NYC vampire clan is a diverse group.