Paul Wesley gives bartending a try in Tell Me A Story first look

Paul Wesley has gone from playing predator to prey. The former Vampire Diaries star followed Vampire co-creator Kevin Williamson to his next gig on Tell Me A Story, a new thriller that takes classic fairy tales and sets them in modern day. Specifically, season 1 will intertwine the stories of Hansel and Gretel, The Three Little Pigs, and Little Red Riding Hood, with Wesley falling into the Three Little Pigs story line as Eddie, a bartender, low-level drug dealer, and part-time thief who struggles with his own drug and alcohol problems.

“If you look at the three little pigs, what’s the theme of that? Hard work pays off. The pig who built his house with brick and worked really, really hard is the one who survived,” showrunner Kevin Williamson says. “The littlest pig is the lazy one, then you have the middle pig who’s the man of half-measure who works really hard … sort of. He’s the guy who stops halfway through. And then you have the third pig who works hard for everything that he has.”

The show will put its own spin on that story. “Look at the world around us today and you see a world divided and a world in disarray, so who would these three pigs be today?” Williamson says. “And more importantly who would the wolf be? And how did the wolf become the wolf?”

Williamson reveals that James Wolk will play the wolf — though he won’t start off as a bad guy — while Wesley will be one of the pigs. EW has an exclusive first look photo of Wesley in his new role below.

Tell Me A Story premieres on Halloween on CBS All Access.

Related content:

• Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley returns to TV in Tell Me A Story
• Kevin Williamson’s sexy fairy-tale drama gets first trailer
• James Wolk shot an embarrassing shower scene for Tell Me A Story