Van Helsing (TV series)

Plot

Cast and characters

Main

• Kelly Overton as Vanessa Van Helsing, humanity's last hope to lead an offensive to take back what has been lost in a post-Rising world, as her unique blood composition gives her the ability to turn vampires into humans.
• Jonathan Scarfe as Axel Miller, a former Marine with unwavering devotion and loyalty to both duty and Vanessa, despite years of isolation.
• Christopher Heyerdahl as Samuel "Sam", a deaf survivor of the Rising who relies on his strength and observational skills to stay hidden. Sam turns out to be the serial killer haunting the survivors. Sam is a sociopath and serial killer, even before becoming a vampire. He likes to strangle his victims and cut off the right index finger, collecting them like the Indian mythological character Angulimāla. After his secret was uncovered by Mohamad, he explains to Vanessa that he had always been a killer. Vanessa cuts his tendons and leaves him to die. A feral vampire turns him. He becomes a serial killer vampire, hunting Vanessa for revenge. He is later transformed into the Fourth Elder vampire.
• David Cubitt as John , a survivor of the Rising whose actions are fueled by anger, prejudice, suspicion and fear. He was killed by Vanessa after a knife and severed fingers were found in his bag. Unfortunately, Sam turned out to be the real serial killer, not John.
• Vincent Gale as Flesh, a vampire who was originally a human named Phil Fleishman. He became one of the first vampires turned by Julius during the Rising. After the Rising, he served as one of Dimitri' top lieutenants, and was sent to bite "the dead woman", Vanessa. As a result, he was cured and regained his humanity. He is haunted by his memories of killing his children in front of his wife and leaving her alive with their dismembered bodies.
• Rukiya Bernard as Sarah "Doc" Carol, a Seattleite medical examiner and scientist. She was a vampire before being cured by Vanessa. She struggled with being turned human again and, after abandoning Axel to die, tried to get a vampire to turn her back. It turned out that Vanessa's bite has immunized her against vampirism.
• Trezzo Mahoro as Mohamad, a happy guy, despite all of the evil in the world. He and Sam have a strong bond. He works in season 1 to deliver Vanessa to Dimitri so that he can set his sister free, only to find that she is happy with the arrangement she has, living in relative luxury and safety as a result of informing on the resistance to Rebecca. He is later turned by Sam and then stabbed to death by him.
• Tim Guinee as Ted, a Marine and a friend of Axel Miller.
• Laura Mennell as Rebecca, an ancient, high-ranking vampire who sees very little use in human life. Rebecca works with Taka to overthrow Dimitri. She also turned Dylan, Vanessa's daughter. Rebecca is weakened in a fight with Vanessa, in which Vanessa holds her face to the sun, burning it, and then killed by Dmitri's sister Antanasia.
• Paul Johansson as Dmitri, a vampire turned long before the Rising. He is now the patient and calculating leader of the vampires, and obsessed with finding Vanessa, whom he believes to be the solution to the vampire dream of walking in daylight. He is killed by the First Elder, on Scarlett's command.
• Aleks Paunovic as Julius, a former vampire turned by Dmitri who existed for some time before The Rising as a warlord, though now he was turned human by Vanessa and now fights with her.
• Hilary Jardine as Susan, Vanessa's neighbor and best friend up until The Rising, during which time she became a vampire. She was later cured upon reuniting with Vanessa before being killed by Sam. The First Elder, one of the original vampires, takes Susan's form in the third season, so as to facilitate interaction with Vanessa and the others.
• Keeya King as Violet, Hansen's daughter, whom Julius is assigned to train, and who has a secret even she doesn't know.
• John Cassini as Maddox, an underling of Hansen who is in charge of Denver operations.
• Neal McDonough as Hansen, aka "The Boss", the ruthless head of Blak-Tek. He is revealed to be an ancient vampire named Willem.
• Nicole Munoz as Jacqueline "Jack", the teenage leader of a group of survivors.
• Caroline Cave as Jolene, a triage nurse in a camp of human survivors. She later becomes romantically involved with Doc.
• Tricia Helfer as Dracula, the Dark One who is the ruler of the vampire species.

  Recurring

• Hannah Cheramy as Dylan, daughter of Vanessa. Vanessa finds her with Rebecca at the end of season 1. Her DNA has been altered by Dr Sholomenko so that a bite from Vanessa will be fatal. Vanessa initially tries to keep her alive by feeding her human blood. Julius volunteers to provide some, but Dylan finds it tainted by Vanessa's bite and cannot drink it. Then Vanessa tries capturing a human, but the man tries to shoot Dylan and Vanessa is forced to kill him. The man has children who are calling for their father, and Vanessa is dismayed by what she has done. Unable to find blood to keep Dylan alive, Vanessa reluctantly bites Dylan. At first it works, and Dylan becomes human, but then, standing in the sun, she burns like a vampire and dies.
• Jennifer Copping as Quaid, a member of the Portland Human Resistance.
• Ben Cotton as Campbell, a member of the Portland Human Resistance. He is killed when a resistance cell is uncovered in an ambush inadvertently set up by Sheema.
• Gia Crovatin as Antanasia, an ancient vampire like her brother Dmitri. She is killed by Scarlett.
• John DeSantis as Gustov, a vampire from Julius' Brood.
• Terry Chen as Brendan, the effective leader of a group of survivors from Idaho. They take over the hospital, imprisoning Axel and the others. Axel sends him and the remaining Idaho survivors out of the hospital to fend for themselves, as this was what they had done to Mahomad and planned to do to Axel and co. He survives and joins the resistance, meeting up with Flesh again. He is shot by Taka in the final episode of season 1.
• Sarah Desjardins as Catherine, a member of a group of survivors from Idaho, who were lucky enough to be rescued by Vanessa as they passed through Seattle. She is killed by vampires after being banished.
• Christina Jastrzembska as Mama, mother of Julius, as well as a member of his Brood. She is killed by vampire Sam as she tries to extract information from him about Mahomad. Mama was dying in a charity hospital in the 1920s when she was turned by Julius in a desperate effort to save her.
• Macie Juiles as Callie, a member of a group of survivors from Idaho, who after being saved Vanessa, forged a bond with her. She is known for everyone around her dying but she always survives. She helps Axel when he first escaped from the locked quarantine section at the farm, supplying him with blood so that he does not have to kill. Later she joins another group of young people known as "the Johnson's", where she meets up with Vanessa again.
• Avery Konrad as Cynthia, an average teenage girl that somehow managed to survive The Rising for as long as she did.
• Duncan Ollerenshaw as Dr. Sholomenko, a human doctor, who was forced into working for Dmitri and Rebecca in order to create day walking vampires with components from Vanessa's blood. He is killed by Vanessa when she rescues Dylan.
• Rowland Pidlubny as Scab, a vampire servant from Julius' brood who later joins the Sisterhood.
• Ryan Robbins as Taka, a leader of the Portland Human Resistance. Taka aligned himself with Rebecca, who wanted to overthrow Dimitri. Rebecca promised him 'Fox Island' as a place where humans could live without interference from the vampires. When Taka is in a position to kill Dimitri, Dimitri tells him that Fox Island has been overrun by vampires and that it is no refuge. Taka kills Brendan rather than Dimitri, who offers him the prospect of a deal. He is in turn killed when Antanasia saves Dmitri from him and Rebecca.
• Naika Toussaint as Sheema, a sister of Mohamad and is a member of the Portland Human Resistance. She was found out and used as a Judas sheep to trap other members of the resistance. She is desperate to be turned into a vampire and implores Mohamad to get one to do it when she is trapped under rubble during the resistance attack on Dmitri's headquarters. Mohamad kills her to put her out of her misery.
• Alison Wandzura as Nicole, a survivor held up in the Seattle Valley General Hospital until it was over run with vampires.
• Gwynyth Walsh as Magdalene, a vampire in allegiance with Julius who, as a human, was Micah's ex-wife.
• Andrea Ware as Lucky, a member of the Portland Human Resistance. She becomes Flesh's friend.
• Phil Burke as Mike, one of the leaders of a group of mostly children refugees who hide out in the woods.
• Donny Lucas as Chad, one of the leaders of a group of mostly children refugees who hide out in the woods.
• Missy Peregrym as Scarlett Van Helsing, Vanessa's sister, who may share some of Vanessa's special abilities.
• Jennifer Cheon as Ivory, for some time the leader of the Sisterhood, an all-female faction of very powerful vampires.
• John Reardon as Dr. Harrison, a human performing experiments involving vampirism in a mountain fortress. He shares a mysterious connection to the Van Helsings.
• Andee Frizzell as The Boss/Abby, who is in charge of a human survivors' outpost in the mountains, above the clouds. She claims to be Vanessa and Scarlett's mother.
• Colleen Winton as Abigail, a scientist who works with Dr. Harrison, and claims to share a past relationship with Vanessa.
• Jesse Stanley as Oracle, also known as Bathory, an enigmatic oracle who guides vampires towards their destiny.
• Michael Jonsson as Barry, one of a group of survivors whom Vanessa, Scarlett and Axel come across in San Francisco.
• Danny Wattley as Dre, one of a group of survivors whom Vanessa, Scarlett and Axel come across in San Francisco.
• Vanessa Walsh as Marybeth, the purported leader of a group of survivors whom Vanessa, Scarlett and Axel come across in San Francisco.
• Julie Lynn Mortensen as Lillian "Lily" Van Helsing, Vanessa's great-grandmother, a member of the Van Helsing family who lived in the late 19th to early 20th Century, and a vampire hunter. After being held in suspended animation, she awakens in the present day, but dies battling vampires soon after.
• Anna Galvin as Avery, who works with Hansen at Fort Collins and is very interest in finding a "cure" for vampirism. Later, the Oracle takes her form and impersonates her in order to infiltrate Fort Collins.
• Richard Harmon as Max Borman, a sadistic prison warden and a smuggler.
• Heather Doerksen as Michaela, the Mother and original leader of the Sisterhood.

  Special guest stars

• Sara Canning as Carter, the anti-social member of a group of survivors in Axel's hometown, who may have links to Axel's past.
• Michael Eklund as Abraham Van Helsing, the original patriarch of the Van Helsing family who managed to previously trap the Dark One, and as Jacob Van Helsing, Abraham's brother who was turned into a vampire by Willem and who later became the third Elder Vampire whom Vanessa and Scarlett discover trapped on an island.

  Development and production

Casting

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2017–18)

Season 3 (2018)

Season 4 (2019)

Broadcast and release

Reception

Awards and nominations