‘Spider-Man’ Breakout Jacob Batalon To Headline Syfy’s ‘Reginald The Vampire’

Spider-Man’s best friend is about to go batty, but not in the way you might think. There’s no Batman here, just the undead.

Jacob Batalon, known for his role as Lego Death Star builder and “guy in the chair” Ned Leeds inSpider-Man: HomecomingandSpider-Man: Far from Home, will play the title role inReginald the Vampireon Syfy.Deadlinereports that Batalon will leadReginald the Vampire, which has flown straight to series with a 10-episode order. If you’re a fan ofWhat We Do in the Shadowson FX (and really, who isn’t), this Syfy series might be right up your alley. It’s a dramedy based on the book seriesFat VampirebyJohnny B. Truant.Harley Peytonwill steerReginald the Vampire’s adventures as showrunner. Here’s the synopsis:

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Go, Truant, Go! Go! Truant B. Goode

In case you were wondering, yes, my sources — Google, freely available to anyone — tell me that Johnny B. Truant is a pen name. Speaking as someone who once wrote an anonymous article for his high school newspaper entitled, “Diary of a Truant” (all these years later, I’m finally unmasking myself publically), I greatly appreciate how theFat Vampireauthor’s pseudonym makes him sound like an escaped student from Midtown School of Science and Technology.

Midtown, you may remember, is the school Peter Parker and Ned Leeds attend in theSpider-Manmovies. The real question: is Johnny B. Truant advocating truancy? Or is he just a fan of the"Johnny B. Goode"scene inBack to the Future(which is classic, but, let’s face it, rather regressively asks us to believe that a time-traveling white kid was responsible for Chuck Berry’s success and, by extension, all of rock ‘n’ roll)?

The interesting thing about Reginald, the book character, is that he is a treadmill salesman with a weight problem. Becoming a vampire means that he’s gifted with healing powers yet fated to revert back to his overweight self. This might be fertile ground for an exploration of self-acceptance.Fat Vampireis a title with a whiff of fat-shaming to it, soReginald the Vampirealready has a leg up on the books in that it’s aiming for broader, more inclusive appeal even among plus-sized folks.

Incidentally, the high school senior who wrote that “Diary of Truant” article weighed 162 pounds. As a sophomore, he weighed 262 pounds, and as an adult, his weight has continued fluctuating wildly.

Ten thousand steps a day keeps the doctor away, and I’m eager to check outReginald the Vampirewhen it hits Syfy.