David Bradley discusses his new series, “The Strain”

We previously showed you the trailer for the upcoming horror series The Strain, starring David Bradley (Argus Filch in Harry Potter). Now, with the series debut just a few weeks away, Bradley is speaking about his role and what viewers can expect.

Bradley plays Abraham Setrakian, a powerful hunter hiding as a pawn shop owner who must assist the CDC with a virus that turns people into vicious vampires. He says it was the director, Guillermo del Toro, who attracted him to work on the project.

He’s one of the great directors, and he’s just got such a wonderful imagination, so it’s something you want to be a part of. I didn’t know an awful lot about it, but he and Carlton described the character, and I saw a script, and I thought, ‘Wow, this has great potential.’ […] There are quite a lot of vampire movies and TV series out there at the moment, but [the creatures in] this one seemed to be more visceral and unpleasant… than the suave, pointy-toothed guys in evening dress with top hats and old charmers.

Bradley says the worm-like virus (seen here) is impressive but very off-putting.

It puts you off certain foodstuff [spaghetti], but they showed the entire pilot of the first episode while we were having lunch in the studio canteen, so there were a few people pushing their plates away as they watched.

Last year, Bradley played the villainous Walder Frey in the hit series Game of Thrones. When asked if he was looking for a heroic character to counterbalance that image, he admits that he doesn’t quite have the power to choose.

Well, if only I could plan my career as such and say, ‘I chose this because.’ But usually, I’ve always taken the first bus that’s come along, whatever it’s been, as long as – it’s not so much doing something that’s so obviously different, but one hopes that you do get offered different stuff […] I’ve been fortunate in the fact that casting directors and directors have always have a bit more imagination with me. I’ve played a nice mixture.

As for his character in The Strain, Bradley says he has both good and bad qualities.

He does some bad things, but for the best reasons because of his history and what’s happened to him. I think he’s basically a good man… certainly on the side of the angels, but he has to do some terrible things in his pursuit of his mission. He’s quite ruthless at times, and the people he takes along with him, he puts them into danger as well.

The Strain premieres on FX on July 13 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. Will you be tuning in?