Claim: Doug Jones and Guillermo del Toro have worked together.

The Strain is an American horror drama television series that premiered on FX on July 13 , 2014 . It was created by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan , based on their novel trilogy of the same name . Carlton Cuse serves as executive producer and showrunner . Del Toro and Hogan wrote the pilot episode , `` Night Zero '' , which del Toro directed . A thirteen-episode first season was ordered on November 19 , 2013 . The pilot episode premiered at the ATX Television Festival in Austin , Texas , in early June 2014 .   On August 6 , 2014 , FX renewed The Strain for a 13-episode second season which premiered on July 12 , 2015 . On August 7 , 2015 , FX renewed The Strain for a 10-episode third season which premiered on August 28 , 2016 . FX renewed the series for a fourth and final season on September 27 , 2016 , which is scheduled to premiere on July 16 , 2017 .