Alias' Mia Maestro To Star In Carlton Cuse's The Strain

It looks as though Carlton Cuse has tapped into the Abrams-verse for the female lead of the pilot he and Guillermo del Toro are developing for FX. Argentinean beauty Mia Maestro, who played a key role in the later seasons of J.J. Abrams' spy drama Alias has been cast in The Strain, a drama that centers on a vampire-like infection that's spreading throughout New York City.

The Strain is based on a book trilogy from del Toro and Chuck Hogan. The pilot, which del Toro is developing with Cuse, will star Corey Stoll as Dr. Goodweather, the head of a CDC rapid-response team that's investigating biological threats, which leads them to the discovery of a vicious, vampiric plague that's about to tear through New York City. THR says Maestro will play Stoll's love interest, Dr. Nora Martinez, a brilliant biochemist, who serves as the doctor's righthand woman. "She's further described as caring more about people than the diseases that threaten them but will soon be forced to embrace a new identity as a ruthless warrior."

It sounds like an exciting role for Maestro, who knows a thing or two about vampires. She played Carmen, one of the Denali sisters, in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Parts 1 & 2. Going back a bit further, she played Nadia Santos, the beautiful spy and half-sister to Sydney Bristow in Alias. More recently, she's appeared in Person of Interest and White Collar. Should The Strain go to series - and it certainly has a lot going for it - this would put her in her first big TV role since Crusoe. She played Olivia in the NBC series, which was cancelled due to low ratings after just one season.

Kelly West
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Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.