Biggest Changes 'Vampire Academy' TV Series Made From the Books
It's always tough to adapt a book and not spark outrage in the fandom, but at least Peacock has tried.
Warning: the following article contains spoilers for 'Vampire Academy'
On Thursday, 'Vampire Academy' – an adaptation of an eponymous book series by Richelle Mead – premiered on Peacock with the release of eight episodes at once. While welcomed by fans and quickly settled in Twitter trends, the show has faced some criticism for several occasions when it apparently decided to step away from the book canon.
Here are some of the things that seemed to have triggered fans the most.
Christian's Parents Being Alive
In the TV adaptation, the parents of Christian Ozera appear to be very much alive, even though still turned into Strigoi just like in the book. However, many fans argued that the book delved into Christian's tragedy of losing parents and having them turned into vicious monsters. In the show, his parents have willingly made the decision.
"I think it does a lot of disservice to Christian as a character all for the sake of drama. A big part of the reason Christian was an outcast was the fact his parents turned strigoi and then they were hunted down, do we even know how long they would've been strigoi at this point?" Reddit user abliafina argued.
Others, however, beg to differ.
"I'm super excited about Christian's parents being "alive" (but still Strigoi) because it creates even higher stakes for the characters. A random Strigoi threatening Christian? Scary, sure, but his parents threatening him and the entire vampire world? Him having to face them down and confront them for their terrible decision? That's great drama. That's why they made changes like that. I'm very excited to see it play out." – /raven_2525
Nationalities Changed
The lore of the books has been changed when it comes to the characters' nationalities as well. For instance, Dimitri is played by a British actor, even though the character is Russian, and the actress who portrays Rose is not Turkish. In the books, Rose is half-Turkish.
The only thing that seemed to have comforted fans was how Dimitri's Russian slipped out when he called Rose "Rosa".
Tatiana Character Changed
Last but not least, one of the changes that irked the fans was how stark is the difference between Tatiana's character in the books and in the show. Not only has the show changed her ethnicity as well, but also it stripped her of her Queen status. In the books, Tatiana is a Moroi queen, but the series describes her simply as a political underdog who is on a mission to take the royal court by storm.
According to some fan theories, the Peacock show went for "mashing" the characters of Tatiana and Tasha, even though the showrunners did not seem to have officially confirmed it.
'Vampire Academy' is currently streaming on Peacock TV, with the next episode to premiere on September 29.