BY FEARSmag

- The vampires and werewolves are squaring off again for the third installment of the UNDERWORLD franchise. The franchise screenwriter Danny McBride is once again crafting the continuing saga of these two supernatural warring species, with series co-creator Len Wiseman adding his input to the story.

The successful franchise, due to the star power of Kate Beckinsale and the cinematic wizardry of Len Wiseman, is now under the direction of the special effects maestro Patrick Tatopoulos, who has provided some of the visual and special effects on the two previous films. However, this is not Tatopoulos directorial due as he cut his director’s teeth on the 2000 film “Bird of Passage.”

The film also shifts its filming location from Eastern Europe to Auckland, N.Z., where filming began on January 10th, 2008. The production is expected to wrap sometime in March.

The returning cast includes Bill Nighy and Steven MacKintosh, but we have yet to confirming participation by series stars Kate Beckinsale or Scott Speedman. Among the other cast members are Michael Sheen, Rhona Mitra, and Kevin Grievoux.

However, their absence maybe be that this third film is a prequel to the series. The early word is that the story traces the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian (Sheen) emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor (Nighy), the cruel vampire king who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja (Mitra), in his battle against the Death Dealer army and his struggle for Lycan freedom.

Currently there is no scheduled release date, but with Sony and Screen Gems currently release several sequel titles direct to DVD one might speculate that UNDERWORLD 3 might skip the theaters due to the absence of the key players. Also, there is a rather poor track record of special effects artist trying to make the leap to directors. Given the track record of the franchise the studio may take the chance of a theatrical release on this third installment. Stay tuned for more updates.

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