Jonathan Rhys-Meyers to Head Up New Vampire Series 'Dracula' for NBC

Do True Blood and The Vampire Diaries not provide you with enough bloodsucking excitement? Well, if you're still thirsting for more, NBC is here to satiate you; the network recently announced that it was adding a vampire drama to its line-up. This one's about the original vampire, too: Dracula himself.

Taking over the role from greats like Bela Lugosi and Leslie Nielsen will be Golden Globe winner Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, whose last television role was his four-season stint as King Henry VIII in Showtime's medeival drama The Tudors.

According to NBC, the ten-episode series will introduce Dracula "as he arrives in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier. There's only one circumstance that can potentially thwart his plan: Dracula falls hopelessly in love with a woman who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife."

In a press release, NBC Entertainment head Michael Edelstein expressed his excitement for the project: "We are delighted that Jonathan Rhys Meyers has chosen this project to return to television and have built an amazing team of producers behind the camera to deliver this extraordinary show. Since 1897, the story of Dracula has captivated readers and viewers alike and this sexy, updated twist on the classic also promises not to disappoint."

Dracula will be a co-production between NBC and Sky Living, and boasts an executive producer from the critically acclaimed British series Downton Abbey. Sky has also produced American series such as Cinemax's action thriller Strike Back.

Dracula is slated to begin production later this year, to presumably air on NBC sometime in 2013.