Let the Right One In: What's in a Name?

Does the image above make you nervous?

Maybe you have no idea why you should be nervous. Why a Showtime original series titled Let the Right One In should make you feel slightly unsettled. But if you already know what I'm talking about--if you're familiar with one of the most revered Swedish films in the vampire genre--then the image above, by all accounts, should make you very, very nervous.

Let the Right One In is a 2008 Swedish film based on the 2004 novel of the same name. The story follows 10-year-old Oskar, a shy young boy living in Stockholm, Sweden in the 1980s, who befriends Eli, a pale young girl of his age. Soon, however, it becomes clear that Eli is not all she appears to be. Because Eli is a vampire. The film garnered critical acclaim, winning awards left and right from Tribeca Film Festival, the Guldbagge Awards, and the British Academy Film Awards, to name a few. For many vampire fans, the film is considered a staple in the genre for its unique take on both vampire stories and vampire love stories. Because, if you weren't able to guess it by the "boy meets girl" setup of the film, Let the Right One In is, at its core, a love story.

American adaptations have not been kind to Let the Right One In. While it's true that Matt Reeves' version, 2010's Let Me In, was a critical success--albeit occasionally criticized for being an Americanized rehash of the original film--the remake didn't do well with audiences. That is to say, no one went to see it in theaters. On a $20 million budget, the film only garnered $24.1 million at the box office. Even with the author of the original book, John Ajvide Lindqvist, praising the American version, nobody went to go see it. Nobody seemed interested in a love story between a young boy and a vampiric girl. And maybe it was that realization that led to 2022's television reimagining of Let the Right One In.

There is every reason to be nervous about a story that has been told twice already in movie form--both times in less than 2 hours each--being stretched into a 10-hour television series. Especially when that series is keen on making sure you know that this isn't the end. That it plans to have more seasons, more story, a bigger stretch between the start of the movie and the end. 114 minutes can easily become 1140 minutes of bloated filler and meaningless changes that only serve to stretch the story out for longer than it needs to run. Let the Right One In, the show, had absolutely nothing going for it. The name alone made it sound like Showtime was going to be dragging a critically praised novel and two critically successful movies through the mud to rope viewers who enjoy vampires into buying a premium subscription. It made sense why people were nervous. The image above should make your nervous.

But Let the Right One In is not Let the Right One In.

Showtime's rendition of Let the Right One In follows Mark Kane, a New York City native who returns to his home after 10 years abroad. During that lost span of time, Mark was traveling the world with Eleanor, his 12-year-old daughter who was attacked by a vampire a decade earlier, in the vain hope that he would be able to find a cure for her. Mark is drawn back to New York after catching wind of a series of gruesome murders which he believes may be tied to another case of vampirism in the area. His hope is that, by catching the vampire that made Eleanor what she is, he can find a way to cure her so she can live a normal life again.

In the meantime, his daughter begins to foster a friendship with Isaiah, a young boy of her physical age that lives next door to the Kanes in the apartment complex Mark chose to hide out in. While this part of the story is directly inspired by the original Let the Right One In, it's only one brushstroke of the much larger picture this series paints. Within the first 10 minutes of the show, it's revealed that Isaiah's mother, Naomi Cole, is a detective for the NYPD, currently investigating the series of murders that drew Mark to the city. Her storyline begins to unravel more about what's going on, intersecting with Mark's own investigation in creative ways.

But between the paired storylines surrounding Mark, Naomi, and their children, is an outlier: Claire Logan. A disease researcher and prize-winning scientist, Claire receives a call from her estranged father, a rich founder of a drug company who is now in the last stages of his life. Upon getting to his home, her father reveals that there are truths he had been keeping secret from her about an incident that transpired 10 years ago. Claire's brother, Peter, was seemingly killed by a bear while hunting with his father a decade prior. However, Claire's father reveals this is not true. Peter is alive. But he's changed. Because, just like Eleanor, Peter is a vampire. And Claire's father wants her to help him find a cure.

This three-pronged storyline is very different and far-removed from the original Let the Right One In. It maintains the original storyline of the book and films, but uses it as only part of a much bigger story. Showtime's TV adaptation introduces layers of intrigue about the vampire virus, the characters involved in trying to cure it, and what family really means when times get tough. The story is brought to life by talented actors, including Academy Award nominee Demián Bichir as Mark; stage performer and voice star of 2009's The Princess and the Frog Anika Noni Rose as Naomi; and Grace Gummer--Meryl Streep's daughter best known for her stellar performance as Agent Dom DiPierro in Mr. Robot--as Claire. Even newcomers Ian Foreman (Isaiah) and Madison Taylor Baez (Eleanor) anchor the series in their own ways. The story is more complex than the original story, featuring larger mysteries and different dynamics to how the idea of vampirism is approached.

It is phenomenal. But that's because it's not Let the Right One In.

At its core, the original Let the Right One In is about a young boy who falls in love with a vampire girl. While similarities to that original purpose can be found in Eleanor and Isaiah's story, the show really leans into doing its own thing. Let the Right One In--the show--finds its footing in the original ideas it brings to the vampire genre. At the risk of selling you on the idea while also avoiding spoilers for the cool things this series does, I'll tell you the most mundane idea the series presents:

Vampire chimps.

You see, in the world of Let the Right One In, the vampire virus holds both mystical qualities and behaves like any realistic virus would. This is proven in Episode 2, when Claire's father shows her nine chimpanzees he's been experimenting on for the last few years. He's infected these chimps with the vampire virus inside Peter, giving them the same mutations as Peter: Glowing eyes when ready to feed, vampiric fangs that can jut out of their jaws, and (presumably) the inability to enter a house without first being invited inside. These infected chimps are what Claire and her father conduct their experiments on, with Claire slowly having to get used to the idea of using the animals as a means of saving Peter. While Eleanor's side of the story focuses on the more mystical elements of vampirism, Claire's side uses vampire chimps to show that, despite its unique properties, the vampire virus is just that. A virus.

But the exploration of vampirism in unique ways is one thing. The real meat of any series is its story and characters. While this show isn't perfect by any means--it took me a few episodes before I really started to care for most characters in the series--the story was always engaging right from the start. As Mark begins to investigate the murders in New York City, he slowly realizes that things aren't as they appear to be. So too does Naomi, who is forced to confront the dangers of her job in order to unravel the truth behind the mystery. Meanwhile, Claire's attempts at curing Peter continue to be her primary focus, though her ethical issues with needing to kidnap people so Peter can feed weighs on her throughout.

Now, you may have noticed that Claire's story seems to be far-removed from Mark and Naomi's own experiences. And you would be right. For a while, that was the only part of the show that bugged me. What was Claire's point in this entire thing? How does she tie into finding a cure for vampirism, and how can Peter's case move the story along? I wasn't sure how they were going to do it. I had my theories, sure, but none of them seemed too substantial. 

And then it happened. They connected everything together. In a way that succinct, made sense for the story, and presented audiences with a hard pill to swallow, everything started to make sense. I was floored. I was impressed. I was excited.

It's such a shame a series this good is going to get canceled.

It's inevitable. I really wish it wasn't, but it is. The series is intriguing, different, far-removed from anything I've seen in the vampire genre and much more conservative with how it pulls from the original Let the Right One In. The show has its own engaging identity that is at times horrifying, at times dramatic, and sometimes, oddly enough, wholesome.

But what it doesn't have is viewership. From the few statistics I can even find of the show's live viewers, the most it ever got for an episode was Episode 9. 109,000 viewers. It's a lot of people, relatively speaking. But in the grand scheme of television, it isn't enough. Because it seems that, for most episodes, the series was only able to garner maybe 65% of that. Showtime's most popular drama series are Billions and Yellowjackets, both of which had over 300,000 live viewers per episode in their latest seasons. Even stacked up against American Gigolo, Showtime's series based on the 1980 film of the same name, Let the Right One In was still getting half the number of viewers as the Jon Bernthal-led crime drama. Even City on a Hill, the Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge-led crime series, had an average of 400% more live viewers than Let the Right One In per episode in Season 3, right before it got canceled. If these numbers are to be considered, then the future doesn't look bright for Let the Right One In.

I'm hopeful that this isn't the case, but I'm not hedging any bets on it. Sure, there's always the possibility that streaming will save the series. After all, Yellowjackets has become a pop culture sensation because, while it was airing, it became the most popular series on Showtime's streaming app. Are there people who typically use Showtime's streaming to watch Let the Right One In? Are there enough? I don't have any answers to those questions. But, if viewership can be compared to streaming frequency, then Yellowjackets has it beat almost six times over.

Which is a shame, because Let the Right One In is a creative series. Given the chance, I think there's plenty of potential for the show to carry on for two, maybe three, more seasons, exploring the number of mysteries that Season 1 sadly leaves unsolved. I still encourage you to watch the series--after all, I want to save it from the inevitable--but it will leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Knowing that something this well-done, this above-average, is going to be left behind. It makes me wonder if there was any way for the show to become popular. Or, at least, popular enough to warrant a season 2. Was there any way for Let the Right One In to rise above the expectations laid out for it and grow into a niche, yet renowned, series in its own right? In asking that question, though, another arises:

Would Let the Right One In have fared better if it wasn't called Let the Right One In?

When you name a new series after an established property, there is a certain level of expectation that comes with that decision. People expect the story to develop in a certain way, to explore certain themes, and to present some level of familiarity to audience members that already know what the story is about. Other times, the name can be off-putting, potential viewers rolling their eyes, seeing these works as nothing but cash grabs riding the coattails of a pre-established, respected title in film or television. Let the Right One In falls into a different category, though. While some elements of the book and films are there, it's almost entirely an original work. If the series had a different title--one that didn't sound like a remake or a coattail ride--could it have garnered more viewership? Could it have guaranteed, through its numbers, a second season?

Or was it doomed to get the few viewers it did?

I've been wrestling with this question in the back of my mind the whole time I've been writing this post. And as disappointing as it will be, I haven't been able to come up with a suitable answer. The familiarity of the series' name may have drawn people in, and might even account for what few viewers the show has. At the same time, though, some people may have been put off by the show sharing a title with a critically acclaimed vampire story, thinking the story being told wasn't full of the passion and prospects it truly has. On the opposite end of that, if the show did have a different title, then people may not have watched it too, perhaps even drawing comparisons to Let the Right One In regardless due to the similar plot beats in Eleanor and Isaiah. It's a tough nut to crack, and I'm not even sure there is a right answer.

But what I can say for sure is that Let the Right One In, despite having almost nothing in common with Let the Right One In, is a vastly underrated show with a creative approach to the vampire genre and a great cast of characters that make it engaging and interesting. The story is oftentimes unpredictable, and while it's not perfect, it deserves much more attention than it's getting. Because it's not like Let the Right One In, instead using the basis of the original novel and films as a jumping-off point to tell its own interesting, thrilling story. I don't know if a title change alone could have helped this series gain more popularity. But this is not Let the Right One In. It's something different. It's something that might end up just as good.

I feel like we need more shows like this. Media that takes elements from other films and TV shows or even books and uses them to craft a tale of intrigue that's entirely original. Whether or not they should share the title of whatever inspired them probably depends on just how heavily they're influenced by them. For Let the Right One In, that comparison is tricky. But regardless of its name, the show is good. Really good. And it should be seen as a lesson in how to take something revered and still make it great. By making it feel entirely original.

Despite how unlikely it is, I am hoping for Season 2. Let the Right One In deserves it.

***

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