John Wick script writer Derek Kolstad teams up with Amazon Studios for the adaptation of Japanese manga ‘Hellsing’

By Rishi Rajput On Mar 5, 2021

“I’ve been obsessed with adapting it”

Derek Kolstad, the screenwriter behind the John Wick trilogy is collaborating with Amazon Studios to create a live-action feature film based on the popular action-horror manga Hellsing.

Kolstad said that he had been obsessed with adapting the story after his brother introduced him to the manga and anime some years ago. He added that it felt like a dream when Mike Callaghan and his team managed to secure the rights to partner up with Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Amazon.

The story

Hellsing is written and illustrated by Kouta Gitano and published by Shōnen Gahōsha, and tells the story of Dracula, reimagined as Alucard, a special agent bound to The Hellsing Organizatuon, under the leadership of Integra Hellsing, great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Hellsing. Alucard’s mission is to aid the organisation in protecting England and the rest of the world from supernatural beings like vampires, ghouls, and the like. The manga also focuses on Hellsing’s newest recruit, a young female ex-officer named Seras Victoria.

Bringing Alucard to life

Callaghan spoke of his love for the vampire genre, especially when a creator gets to put their own unique spin to it, so when Derek spoke about Alucard and the rest of the Hellsing Organization, he knew that this was something special. He also spoke highly about the manga series, saying Kouta Hirano’s reimagining was an “exhilarating, quirky mashup of action and horror that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before.” They will be partnering with Automatik aside from Amazon for bringing the characters to life.

Kolstad recently worked on the third John Wick movie, titled John Wick: Parabellum, and also wrote the Bob Odenkirk action thriller Nobody. He is also a co-executive producer for the highly anticipated MCU series Falcon and the Winter Soldier.