Director Mary Lambert on Audible’s ‘Dracula’: ‘Jonathan Bailey is a Dracula for our age’

Mary Lambert, director of the audio adaptation discusses why ‘Dracula’ remains relevant, Jonathan Bailey’s take on the vampire count, and the freedoms and limitations of the medium

Published - October 12, 2026 08:20 pm IST

Jonathan Bailey stars as Count Dracula in a full-cast audio adaptation of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ released by Audible | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Audible’s immersive, all-star audio adaptation of Bram Stoker’s iconic vampire story, Dracula, features Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey as the bloodthirsty count. “He is a Dracula for our age,” says director Mary Lambert, over a video call from New York, where she lives.

“The horror that Bailey brings to the character is of someone who has absolute control and power over your life and soul.” Mary Lambert, known for her work in the horror genre, including Pet Sematary, says it is something we experience in society right now because there are people who are so rich and powerful that they can do whatever they want.

“They can destroy nature, your job or your family. Jonathan brought that metaphor to Dracula. When he tells you what he is going to do, he does not act like a monster. The monster is within and you will feel it when you hear his performance.”

Obsessed with immortality

Having loved the Dracula story since she was a teenager, the 74-year-old director admitted to being excited about the project. “I’ve read the book many times, and the character of the vampire fascinates me. Our society is obsessed with the idea of immortality and being young forever. Honestly, plastic surgery, fillers, makeup, supplements and treatments just postpone the inevitable, which is death.”

Describing Dracula as a mythic character for our age, Mary says, “When I dived back into the material and Robyn’s (Ahern, writer) script, the book’s complexity was fascinating. It is not just about Dracula and sucking people’s blood. There is a very human love story between Mina, her husband and her best friend. Lucy and Mina have an almost erotic love for each other that is restrained because of society.”

Lucy, played by The White Lotus’s Aimee Lou Wood, has three suitors: Arthur Holmwood, John Seward, and Quincey Morris. “In most of the movies about Dracula, those relationships take second place to the central story of the vampire who has to be stopped at all costs.”

Mary Lambert | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The reason he has to be stopped, Mary says, is because of the damage he is doing to these characters. “The more we get to know these characters, the more intensely you want them to survive.”

With the audio drama, there is time to get to know these characters, focus on their performances and give weight to characters that are not fully realised in a film, Mary says. “Dr. Seward, for example, is usually relegated to carrying the burden of exposition. In the audio version, because we record each character separately, it is possible to laser focus on each character and what they bring to the story.”

Seward is one of the main narrators of the novel, because he records his journals on something that was very new at the time in the late 1800s: a phonograph, Mary says with a laugh. “He’s so much more than an expositional character. At the beginning of the story, he loses the love of his life, Lucy, to his best friend Arthur. He’s the moral heart of the story. He forgives Arthur and Lucy, and remains their best friend. He ultimately sacrifices himself to kill Dracula and save them. David Jonsson plays Dr Seward, and he brought heart to a part of the story that is normally ignored.”

The adaptation places Mina, played by Fallout’s Ella Purnell, at the centre of Dracula. “She is the person who actually puts all the different pieces together to help Van Helsing understand that they are dealing with a vampire. She is important to the plot. She has the agency and drives the story. She is the one who isn’t going to give up Lucy and Harker.”

Mina, Mary says, continues to work with Van Helsing, even as she is fighting a losing battle with Dracula. “Mina has the strength of character to do all these things, but she’s also in a psychological battle with Dracula, who is attempting to possess her soul.”

Sometimes that is a metaphor for possessing someone sexually, Mary says. “The scenes where he’s trying to possess her feel sexual. It’s not, however, her body that he’s trying to possess. It is her soul. Her heart and her soul are so strong that she’s able to resist Dracula for a long time, and that’s what makes her so important to the story.”