With A24 expanding into television, rumours are swirling that they’re considering adapting the 1987 cult vampire classic Near Dark into a series with reported input from original writer and director Kathryn Bigelow.

Now, Near Dark has always held a special place in my black heart. It’s gritty, brutal, and beautifully bleak, a Western-infused vampire film that came out the same year as The Lost Boys but followed a much different path. While The Lost Boys became a pop culture phenomenon, Near Dark developed a cult following, simmering in the background as a beloved underdog.

You’d think I’d be excited about the idea of a series. And I’ll admit, as a writer and filmmaker, the thought of doing anything with Near Dark has long been on my creative bucket list. But after watching far too many classic films get rehashed and poorly modernised, I’m more nauseated than hopeful.

Here’s why.

Near Dark has always been one of those films that, despite how good it is, just doesn’t connect with the mainstream. There’s no real merchandise, aside from a few bootleg T-shirts. It rarely appears on “Best Vampire Films” lists. And honestly, who could fill the boots of Bill Paxton as Severen or Lance Henriksen as Jesse Hooker? Their performances are irreplaceable lightning in a bottle.

Why wasn’t Near Dark as popular as The Lost Boys? Maybe because Near Dark was uncompromisingly raw. There was no glamour, no romanticism. It was brutal and grimy and proud of it. The Lost Boys, released in July 1987, had a bigger budget ($8.5 million compared to Near Dark’s $5 million), which bought it better sound, flashier production, and two of the hottest teen stars of the decade, Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. Near Dark followed in October, and while both shared an R rating, one was polished and glossy, the other unapologetically rough.

Horror always moves in cycles, and as we enter another vampire resurgence, A24 may well be looking to ride the wave, especially with Warner Bros.’ 2025 vampire epic Sinners set to bring back the kind of violent, no-apologies bloodsuckers that Near Dark perfected nearly four decades ago.

Even with Bigelow’s involvement, I can’t help but feel uneasy. How do you take a film so defined by its imperfections and raw energy and adapt it to the small screen without diluting its power? The thought of toned-down violence, gender swaps for the sake of trend, or attempts to make the narrative more “digestible” for modern audiences makes my skin crawl.

This film was lightning in a bottle. It was a product of its time, not because it was dated (if anything, it’s timeless in its aesthetic) but because of the people who made it what it was. Paxton and Henriksen were iconic. That kind of magic doesn’t strike twice.

Some filmmakers need to understand that it’s okay to let sleeping dogs lie. If even Max Landis and Edgar Wright could acknowledge the impossibility of remaking An American Werewolf in London, surely A24 can pause and ask whether this is really a story that needs retelling.

To make a Near Dark series even remotely successful, you’d need to reintroduce the film to an entirely new audience or more accurately, several generations. That would require not just a remastering, but a serious theatrical push, maybe even a limited big-screen re-release. Near Dark would have to become a name again.

Honestly, if any '80s vampire film were to be adapted into a series, I think The Lost Boys would make more sense. The film remains massively popular, with a constant flow of merchandise and new tie-ins like the David Living Dead Doll and even a Monster High figure. A prequel series exploring the history of Grandpa and his awareness of vampires in Santa Carla could be fascinating, and with the right approach, it would have broader appeal.

The Lost Boys still resonates with both old fans and new ones. I’d show it to an older child without hesitation (though, truthfully, I introduced my kids to far more intense horror early on, but I’m not exactly the norm). Near Dark, on the other hand, is darker, grittier, and more adult. It doesn’t fit the mould of what newer generations associate with vampire media. These days, when people think of vampire stories, they think of Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Buffy, or Vampire Academy. Near Dark doesn’t belong in that realm, it’s its own beast entirely. It's not a fairy tale. It's a nightmare, and one that shouldn't be watered down for streaming platforms.

There are thousands of writers out there with fresh, original vampire stories just waiting to be brought to life. I understand that studios are afraid of taking risks on untested ideas, but Near Dark? This one doesn't make sense.

It doesn’t need to be remade. It doesn’t need to be reimagined. It just needs to be left alone.