When the cast for 30 Days of Night: Dark Days was revealed, there was still no word on whether Melissa George would reprise her role of Stella for the sequel. But now we know. 30 Days co-creator and Dark Days co-screenwriter Steve Niles told Dread Central that Kiele Sanchez will take over for George.
She's been in Lost, and she's really good. We are really happy about the casting. We are casting slightly younger on this because of our hopes of moving right into (film versions) of the other books. There's what, ten (30 Days) graphic novels now? So we are hoping at the very least that we can tell the main trilogy, which is 30 Days of Night, Dark Days, and Return to Barrow.
Niles says the movie will follow the comic even more closely than the original.
If people remember the comic at all, Stella's original plan was to expose the vampires (for what they were) because the one thing she discovered from having her town destroyed was that basically what vampires fear most in the world is having their existence proven. Just like in the comic, her initial idea is to tell the world the truth of what happened in Barrow, Alaska, because it was covered up as an "accident" like every other vampire attack. So that's her first mission, but then she realizes that hunting them might be more fun and more effective.
Niles says the sequel will also introduce characters that will blur the line between good and evil.
In the comic, we do get exposed to our first sympathetic vampire — a character who has fought his hunger and who has found other ways (of feeding) other than killing people to survive. We also bring in a new character we are really excited about: Agent Norris. He's the equivalent of the "Ben Foster" character (from the original). He's the
human spy, and he's this really despicable FBI agent who wants to become a vampire and who abuses the power of being a law enforcement officer on top of wanting to be a vampire. He can do a lot of damage.
Dark Days is currently in production.