Blade: The Series Begins Production

Production on Spike TV's first original scripted offering Blade: The Series has begun this week in Vancouver, Canada. New Line Television will produce 11, one-hour episodes of the weekly action-adventure series which premieres on Spike TV starting Wednesday, July, 5, following the previously announced two-hour kick-off episode that premieres on June 28.

Based on the Marvel Super Hero of the same name, Blade: The Series stars Kirk "Sticky" Jones (Over There) as the title character who is half-man, half-vampire and employs his extraordinary powers in a crusade to save mankind from the demonic creatures who walk the night.

Spike TV's two-hour series premiere opens with Blade (Jones) setting up shop in Detroit, investigating the vampire house of Chthon. Along the way he forms an uneasy alliance with Krista Starr (Jill Wagner), a former military veteran who becomes entrenched in the world of vampires while investigating the murder of her twin brother.

The series also features Neil Jackson (Stargate SG-1), Nelson Lee (Traffic the TV mini-series) and Jessica Gower (Blurred).

Acclaimed screenwriter and executive producer David S. Goyer (Blade trilogy and Batman Begins) and popular comic book writer Geoff Johns who both worked on the Blade pilot, have also signed on for the series production.

Bill McGoldrick, Vice President, Original Programming and Lisa Ullmann, Director of Original Programming, are executives responsible for production at Spike TV. Avi Arad, Chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios and Ari Arad, Executive Vice President, Marvel Studios; David Goyer; David Simkins (insert credits); Jim Rosenthal and Jon Kroll of New Line Television will serve as executive producers.