'The Radleys' First Images Feel Like Grown Up 'Lost Boys'

The supernatural black comedy The Radleys finally has reared its head and bared its teeth for the first time since June 2023, when the film was first announced. Based on the popular novel of the same name by Matt Haig, the story follows the titular Radley family — parents Peter and Helen and kids Clara and Rowen — a seemingly ordinary family in a quiet, suburban English town. But, under the surface, Peter and Helen hold a dark secret. They're "abstaining vampires," aka vegan vampires, the kind that don't drink blood in a desperate attempt to assimilate with human culture.

The original novel is a parable about what happens when we ignore our deepest desires and suppress our true selves to please the outside world. Peter and Helen ignore their natural cravings, refusing to drink blood, even though it's making them hungrier by the day. In the novel, Peter's hedonistic, bloodthirsty twin brother Will arrives in town, upending their very controlled lives and facing that they've lied to their children about their condition without considering that their kids might have also inherited the same genes.

The Radleys might have just been your run-of-the-mill TV vampire movie if it weren't for the topline cast. A-list British actor Damian Lewis (Wolf Hall), also an executive producer and a driving force behind the project, stars with Kelly Macdonald (Line of Duty) co-starring alongside him. Those two names elevate the upcoming film by dint of their talent alone.