Jonathan Rhys Meyers to play Count Dracula in 10 episode, Victorian Era set drama, Dracula.

On the heels of the new pilot episode which the Starz TV channel in America will be filming and which could become a new TV series, Vlad Dracula, comes an announcement from NBC in America today there will be a second TV project about Dracula, simply entitled ... Dracula.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers will play the iconic Count Dracula in the straight-to-series Dracula which will have 10 episodes and which will be shown on NBC in America later this year. He was previously seen in The Tudors which was shown in South Africa on M-Net.

In Dracula, Jonathan Rhys Meyers' character will arrive in Victorian Era London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society.

In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who've ruined his life centuries earlier - but he falls hopelessly in love with a woman who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.

New possible TV dramas include soldiers battling aliens on different planets and the world's most feared vampire, Dracula.

South African viewers don't get the Starz TV channel here but some of its programming has been shown here, which makes it very likely that two new TV shows in development for the TV channel will be picked up by broadcasters and TV channels here, should the productions be picked up as shows.

Starz, of which South African viewers have seen Camelot, is working on Incursion as well as Vlad Dracula the TV channel announced.

Incursion will follow a squad of soldiers caught in a hostile war against an alien race (think Halo, think Mass Effect, think Starship Troopers) with each new season (should the show be picked up) which will take place on a different, new and exotic planet as humanity battles the aliens on different fronts across space.

Vlad Dracula will tell the tale of the world's most feared vampire - the 15th century Prince of Wallachia, who starts of being a beloved ruler but eventually becomes Dracula.

"Steven DeKnight, J. Michael Straczynski, Roy Lee and Rob Tapert are legendary talents, having created some of the most groundbreaking and iconic television series with incredibly passionate fan bases the world over", says Starz managing director Carmi Zlotnik in a statement. "We are thrilled to work with such sophisticated auteurs and producers as we grow the slate of unique Starz original series."