Kim Coates has been hiding out in Western Canada since COVID took over our world. Luckily before film productions all shut down, he was able to play Count Dalibor in the fifth and final season of SyFy’s “Van Helsing.” He took time out to tell fans that this season is like “a three-show love letter from all the boys and girls of “Van Helsing” to the fans for the final season.”
Fans of course know Coates as the fearless biker Tig from “Sons of Anarchy,” yet this versatile talent out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada has done everything from Shakespeare to voice work and producing. “The Last Boy Scout” started off his film career that boasts over 140 credits including”Ghost Wars.” “Bad Blood,” and “Godless.” Now he plays a count in Transylvania.
Colleen Bement: “Van Helsing” fans are very excited that season five is in the works. What update can you give us on the production?
Kim Coates: This is what I do know is that season five, which started out with me guest-starring for the first three shows, was going to be the final season for sure. They’re wrapping it up. They wanted to give their fans, that incredible fandom of “Van Helsing” give them something really special. Jonathan Walker, the showrunner, decided to go back to Transylvania in the mid-1500-1600s. Let’s go back to Translyvania to see where the entire Dracula lore started.
They got in contact with me around Christmas of last year and said that we really want you to play Count Dalibor. Dalibor is the hero. He’s the hero of the entire piece, and unbeknownst to him, he has a son that’s just born to his beautiful wife Olivia, and her last name is Von Dracula. We’re just going to let the fans discover what that even means, but for me, the greatest thing about Dalibor, other than riding bareback because they didn’t have saddles back then. They had a horn and not much else. There are swords flying around the village. There are these castles, I mean, Colleen, we filmed it in Bratislava, Slovakia with cobblestone streets everywhere, forests everywhere, we had three or four castles that we went to, and you can just imagine this was before COVID was really taking off. It was pre-COVID so everyone was having the time of our lives.
The writing was so amazing, and Dalibor, like I’ve already mentioned, is sort of the hero of the piece. He has one issue that comes back to haunt him that I’m not going to tell you what it is. He is so desperate for a child that he does something that he’s going to learn to regret, and the audience will just be coming along with him. This show is so scary and so sexy. The dialog is so different–you know we spoke differently back then so the dialog is mid-Atlantic English, it’s not from the streets of Pittsburgh, ya know what I mean? They spent tons of money on the wardrobe and the costumes and the actors. Great cast, it was a great time, and it was chilly. The castles were freezing! I had a beautiful time filming it and I can’t wait for people to see it.
CB: What was your reaction to play a vampire?
KC: Well first of all, I’m not a vampire, but let me tell you there are a million vampires in this piece. When I read it I was so pleasantly surprised. I’ve worked with Chad Oakes, Michael Frizlev, and Morris Chapdelaine before, and I just assumed I’d be playing Dracula–something of the darker ilc of man, but no. I’m playing the hero and damn it was fun! And it reminded me of when I played Macbeth at Stratford way back in 1986. I was the youngest Macbeth ever–I was 26 years old. I mean Macbeth had many flaws but deep down a good man who just lets ambition get away from him and his wife. This guy Count Dalibor is a good man and he loves his village and his people; and he gets a son and then it all goes away. My reaction was let’s do it! I had the time, I was free, and we went to Slovakia to film it in February of this year and it was an amazing time.
CB: It sounds like it’s going to really excite the fans and they’re not going to be disappointed.
KC: You know what, that’s a really great thing to say because it’s the truth. I haven’s seen the final version’ I mean it was directed by Jonathan Scarfe who stars in the show and I’ve worked with his father Alan way back in the day. Jonathan was amazing directing this and I’ve been sent some scenes, but I can tell you this, the fans are gonna go ballistic! This is like a three-show love letter from all the boys and girls of “Van Helsing” to the fans for the final season. They’re doing something so completely different and spent so much money doing it, go to Eastern Europe, go to these castles, and write the story they did of how did Dracula even begin. I mean, it’s amazing and I think the fans are gonna lose their shit, it’s so cool!
PART TWO TO BE CONTINUED…
Written by Colleen Bement
