Actor Sean Astin has joined the cast of FX’s adaptation of The Strain.

Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim) directs the pilot, which is based on a trilogy of novels he co-wrote with Chuck Hogan. Astin should have plenty of company on the set: Corey Stoll, Kevin Durand, Mia Maestro, Richard Sammel, Lauren Lee Smith, Jonathan Hyde, Miguel Gomez, John Hurt and Corey Stoll also star.

The official description of Astin’s character is below:

“In FX’s drama series pilot The Strain, Sean Astin has been cast in the role of CDC team administrator ‘Jim Kent,’ the third member of the Canary Team triumvirate along with Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) and Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro) who are charged with solving and containing the mysterious strain of vampirism that is sweeping over Manhattan.”

And here again is the official pilot description:

“The Strain is a high concept thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Stoll), the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. When Eph realizes that this isn’t some new bioterror weapon, but something much older, something outside the reach of science, he teams with Abraham (Hurt) to fight back. As a plague of hungry and intelligent predators overwhelms New York, Eph, Abraham and a motley crew of everyday New Yorkers form a ragtag resistance – fighting monsters in the streets and in their homes, waging a war for the fate of humanity itself.”