Stephen King’s vampire classic Salem’s Lot recently landed a new feature adaptation over on Max. The story follows an author who returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot. But when searching for inspiration for his next book, he discovers the small town is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.

Alfre Woodard plays Dr. Cody, a gender-swapped version of the character from King’s original novel. We got the chance to speak with Woodard about Dr. Cody’s personality, and how she reacts to the town’s vampiric takeover in Salem’s Lot.

“She had that stubborn scientific thing of like, just the facts. I gotta be able to touch it or it’s not real. Even when a body is missing in the morgue of the hospital, she goes, ‘well, it didn’t just get up and walk,’” Woodard said of her character.

*Spoilers for Salem’s Lot Ahead!*

However, Dr. Cody’s scientific mind isn’t totally rigid. As soon as she experiences the supernatural for herself, her approach totally shifts.

“Then she’s there in the morgue and a shoe falls off [the body],” Woodard continued. “She looks at it and she thinks the shoe fell off. She doesn’t think, ‘oh, this corpse kicked the shoe off’ or something. Just that the shoe fell off. And then when the corpse raises up and starts to talk, she’s just as suddenly all ‘give me that,’ you know. ‘Come back, come here. I’ve got 22 tongue depressors.’”

She’s referencing the doctor’s quick thinking in instructing Ben (Lewis Pullman) and Susan (Mackenzie Leigh) to construct a cross out of tongue depressors to ward off the newly risen vampire. 

“I’m forgetting right now if she ever went to vacation bible school,” joked Woodard. “But she’s like, you know what, I’m willing to try everything right here right now. That’s one of the things that I love about her.”

And despite the sudden and overwhelming circumstances, Dr. Cody’s instincts are to stay and solve the problem herself; to protect her town and the people in it.

“She also doesn’t flee. She knows what’s gonna happen. The smart thing is to get in your car, drive to the next town and send in the authorities, get the National Guard. But it’s like, no, she’s been tending to those people like Ben since Ben was a little boy. It’s that thing of standing and using what you have constantly to fight.”

Dr. Cody (Alfre Woodard) examines an empty morgue bed in 'Salem's Lot'

Speaking of fighting, Woodard’s character holds a special distinction in Salem’s Lot: she’s the only one to survive a vampire bite.

“I said to Gary [Dauberman, Salem’s Lot director], I really wanna fight the vampire because it pisses me off! You know, somebody biting you. It’s like come on! Slap me, beat me, stab me. But grab on my neck and suck my blood? No, that’s not happening,” Woodard insisted. “[The vampire] gets a bite in, but she constantly keeps going for the facts. What’s the next solution? And she decides what you can do is get a rabies shot.”

By combining the rabies shot with the cross and a prayer, Dr. Cody never transforms into a vampire. (A feat almost no one else in the town of Jerusalem’s Lot can claim.)

“And I like the fact that that’s not the way she was taken out. She never got taken out by the vampire. It’s the small victories,” Woodard said.

Salem’s Lot is now streaming on Max.

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