Van Helsing: 5 things you need to know before the Season 5 premiere

Not even a pandemic could stop SYFY's Van Helsing. Despite a lengthy production shutdown caused by COVID-19, the hit series was the first TV series to return to set in Canada. Getting the cameras rolling again was rather bittersweet, as Van Helsing will come to an end after its fifth season, which premieres this coming Friday. 

"We are thrilled to be able to bring the amazing Van Helsing saga to a close,” executive producer Chad Oakes said in late 2019, while Daniel March of Dynamic Television promised to "end the show on its own terms and to give our story, these characters, and our fans the conclusion they so richly deserve."

Download SYFY's free app to see full episodes of Season 5 and tons of extras.

Although it's the final season, there are some newcomers — Kim Coates as Count Dalibor, Olivia's husband; Ali Liebert as Nina, a vampire with a colorful past; and Steve Bacic as The Father, a wild vampire who dresses in animal skins. 

"Kim, Ali, and Steve are incredible talents and we are thrilled to welcome them to our Van Helsing family. And we are especially ecstatic to finally be back to work with them,” Michael Frislev, executive producer and co-chairman of Nomadic Pictures, said last summer.

Van Helsing Season 5 is scheduled to premiere on Friday, April 16, at 10 p.m. ET on SYFY. Each episode will become available on the SYFY app after it airs. The app is free to download, and viewers can either connect to their cable provider to access the full content or sign up for an NBCUniversal profile and use up to three free credits.

Ahead of Season 5's debut, let's go over five plot beats you should know before heading into the final batch of episodes...

Credit: Brendan Meadows/SYFY

Of course, Kelly Overton is coming back as Vanessa Van Helsing. You can't really have the show without her! That said, our hero's been missing in action since the seventh episode of Season 4, in which she trapped both Dracula and herself in another realm. As we later learned in the finale, that didn't keep the Dark One from escaping back into reality, and it's now up to Vanessa & Co. to stop the blood-sucking antagonist once and for all.

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After encountering a Daywalker with incredible strength and endurance, Julius (Aleks Paunovic) and Axel (Jonathan Scarfe) find themselves mortally wounded. Somehow, the injuries they sustained from the new and improved Daywalker keep them from healing and they seem to die just outside a bunker inhabited by Doc (Rukiya Bernard). Let's hope she can save them!

Credit: SYFY

With Julius and Axel down for the count and Jack (Nicole Muñoz) trapped in another dimension, Violet (Keeya King) and Ivory (Jennifer Cheon) were the only two heroes still standing at the end of Season 4. Luckily, Ivory's healing abilities remained intact and she was able to recover from a literal broken neck after an encounter with Dracula. She then rescues Violet, who was being drugged by military personnel at the behest of President Archer (Jill Teed). Except... the president isn't all she appears to be.

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The Season 4 finale gave us a worst case scenario: the Dark One (Tricia Helfer) occupying the most powerful office in the world. After escaping the Dark Realm and taking the innocuous form of Jack, Dracula attacks the president and takes her place. Not only that, but she lets Oracle (Jesse Stanley) out of containment and then boards a plane bound for Washington, D.C. Not good. Our heroes can't just walk into the White House and behead the leader of the Free World, even if she is a soulless blood-sucker. The Secret Service usually frowns upon the decapitation of a sitting president.

Credit: SYFY

A claustrophobic's worst nightmare. Not only is Jack still in the Dark Realm, she's trapped inside a heavily fortified coffin within the Dark Realm. The final Raiders of the Lost Ark-esque shot pans up to show us that Jack's coffin is one of several thousand within the same space.