NBC’s ‘Midnight, Texas’ is like Charlaine Harris’s books ‘on steroids’

NBC is gearing up for the debut of new supernatural series, “Midnight, Texas.” If the show looks and feels a bit familiar to “True Blood” fans, there’s a reason for that: This is an adaptation of Charlaine Harris’ book series of the same name. The comparisons to HBO’s popular vampire series — inspired by Harris’ other popular book series — is impossible to ignore.

The first official trailer for the series shines a light on the mysterious town of Midnight, and the eclectic cast of characters — psychics, vampires and witches, oh my! — that call the place home. That supernatural element bonds “Midnight, Texas” to “True Blood,” but we have to wonder just how far the series will go — and how connected to the book series will the TV story remain?

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NBC held their Summer Press Day on March 20, giving a further peek into the new genre show. The entire cast and crew were in attendance and gave some insight into what fans should expect once “Midnight, Texas” premieres on July 25. Here’s a rundown of the most exciting stuff we learned:

Expect ‘Midnight, Texas’ to be a fun genre mashup

Monica Owusu-Breen (Executive producer): You know, her characters are very three‑dimensional. So they are funny, and they fall in love, and there’s passion. And so I do like to describe this show as all my favorite things in a blender. So I think we ride the tones of horror and action and romance and humor, and we don’t shy away from any of them.

David Janollari (Executive producer): The combination of all of those genres are really fun. It’s really fun to get scared watching these episodes. It’s really fun to fall in love with the characters falling in love. It’s really fun to live in Midnight. So we think it’s a great fun summer show.

The pacing will be way more intense than the books

Monica Owusu-Breen: She [Charlaine Harris] understands the novel had a very, sort of, small‑town pace to it — which is very different from what network requires. So, it’s a little bit like her books on steroids.

The makeup effects are terrifying & mostly practical

Francois Arnaud (Manfred Bernardo): We have an amazing special effects team on the show. They always fight every battle and win most of them, to keep it all makeup and prosthetics. There is some great CGI work as well, but it really helps us in our work to ground us in a reality where it gives you something to play with. You have actual monsters that look terrifying.

A familiar ‘Vampire Diaries’ star is one of the few humans in town

Arielle Kebbel (Olivia): I was very thankful to be a human. I was grateful to join this show and play a human character who is in love with a vampire  — and learn what that relationship looks like […] And I was excited to, you know, take on this new realm and kind of see what vampires are like in “Midnight.”

“Midnight, Texas” premieres Tuesday, July 25, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

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