Being Human: Red, White, & Blue

This Independence Day, I want to talk about recent casting news for the American version of the British genre show I absolutely adore, Being Human, to apparently air on SyFy network. The show is about a vampire, a ghost, and a werewolf living together in one apartment going through the usual stuff young 20-somethings go through while also dealing with being preternatural creatures living amongst human and other (more hostile) supernatural beings.


Sam Witwer has been cast to play the role of Aiden, the vampire. In the original series, the character's name is Mitchell and is played by Aidan Turner. In terms of looks and acting, they both got that deeply brooding kind of intensity going on. In the little I've seen of Witwer (Battlestar Galatica, Smallville), the casting seems to be right on the money.


In the role of Molly, the ghost, they went with relatively unknown Meaghan Rath. I have no idea how she will do compared to the radiant Lenora Crichlow who plays Annie in the original series. This is probably the trickiest role of the three as the character is called to play submissive, vengeful, goofy, and inconsolable sometimes in the same episode!


Finally, Sam Huntington was chosen to play Josh, the werewolf, originated by the adorkable Russell Tovey in the British version as George. I've seen Huntington in a few things and he seems to play dorky guys to a default, which is a plus for this character. Will he match up with Tovey's ability to also turn in a devastating performance? Time will tell.

One of the things that makes Being Human a cut above the shows its type is the chemistry among its main cast. While I'm still reluctant to give this version my full blessing (I don't see why they couldn't just air the fantastic British version to American audiences), I'm trying to keep an open mind especially since the people working on the American version are the same as the original.