Joanna Going returning to DARK SHADOWS this summer

Well, this is exciting news!

As you've probably noted in the headline, actress Joanna Going is returning to Collinsport in the upcoming DARK SHADOWS: BLOOD & FIRE. When the first round of casting was announced for the two-hour special a few weeks ago, I noted that there was no name attached to play Laura Murdoch Stockbridge. Diana Millay, who played both incarnations of the character on the original DARK SHADOWS, has been retired from acting for years, so her return could be confidently ruled out ... but I doubt many people were anticipating this.

The 1991 DARK SHADOWS "revival" made me a life-long fan of Going, who found a way to make the veritable "Mary Sue" that is Victoria Winters interesting. It was her turn as Josette Du Pres in the flashback, though, that fully sold me on her acting chops. With all due respect to Kathryn Leigh Scott and Bella Heathcote, that's the only time Josette has ever felt like a real character.

And this time she's presumably playing the villain. BLOOD & FIRE appears to be leaping off some comments made by Barnabas Collins during the 1897 storyline about having met the Laura when he was a child. (<---- Editor's note: Maybe not.) For those of you coming in late, Laura was a monster known as a Phoenix, a succubus of sorts with the nasty habit of marrying into the Collins family, dying by fire and then returning from the dead to murder her own children. She's easily the most disturbing character in the long run of DARK SHADOWS, which might explain why she was used so sparingly.

DARK SHADOWS: BLOOD & FIRE also stars David Selby, Lara Parker, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Mitchell Ryan, Andrew Collins, Daisy Tormé, James Storm, Jerry Lacy, John Karlen, Lisa Richards, Christopher Pennock, Matthew Waterhouse and ... damn, I'm getting winded just typing this.

Here's the official summary for BLOOD & FIRE, which is due out in June:

The year is 1767. Young widow Laura Murdoch Stockbridge is to marry Joshua Collins, heir to the Collins fortune. Meanwhile, Joshua’s sister Abigail is in love with disreputable sailor Abraham Harkaway. But the course of true love never did run smooth… especially when the witch Angélique Bouchard is around. For Angélique has been sent back in time. And she has one mission… To destroy the Collins family forever.

You can pre-order it HERE.