The Strain Showrunner Carlton Cuse Talks About The Show’s Finale

Cuse reassures fans that they will get satisfying endings for each character. “There is a definitive and dramatic resolution for all of our characters,” he says. “‘The Strain’ definitely does not just peter out in some existential angst or something…I’ve always seen ‘The Strain’ as like a summer popcorn movie, it’s meant to be kind of fun and entertaining and larger than life and, of course, any show where the bad guys are these vampiric creatures that shoot six-foot stingers out that suck you dry like a Capri Sun, kind of in a way defines a certain tone on its own. We leaned into that.”

Unlike the vampires in other television shows — of which there are many — the vampires of “The Strain” are definitively monsters; they don’t look or act human. Cuse says getting to explore that aspect of the show and working with Guillermo del Toro, an acclaimed “creature creator,” was part of the reason he signed on. “When you’re working in the vampire genre space, you better have a different take on it,” he says. “I think ‘The Strain’ had a really singular take on vampires, these were definitely not romantic dudes that you wanted to hang out with.”

Before working on “The Strain,” Cuse was renowned for his work on “Lost,” which was a “non-network show on a television network.” Cuse also produced “Nash Bridges” on CBS and in today’s episode, he discussed the differences between working for a network and for a cable station like FX.

“FX is really the gold standard of where to work,” he says. “It’s also kind of painful sometimes when you have to work other places that aren’t as enlightened. John Landgraf and everyone there is exceptionally focused on doing what they can so you as a creative person can do your best work,” he says. “Network television is always about finding the lowest, kind of broad common denominator, so notes were always about ‘Clarify this,’ make it clearer, make things more accessible to the broadest audience.”