Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairy tale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent (Ron Perlman), a mythic, noble man-beast, and Catherine (Linda Hamilton), a savvy Assistant District Attorney in New York City, as well as a secret utopian community of social outcasts living in a subterranean sanctuary.

[3] The series follows the developing relationship between the main characters and explores the division between New York City and a hidden, subterranean world.

[5] Catherine Chandler (played by Linda Hamilton) is abducted, beaten, slashed and left to die in Central Park because she was inadvertently mistaken for somebody else.

Her first action involves her asking Carol Stabler about those men who attacked her, where she states that they were part of an illegal escort service run by Martin Belmont.

Near the end of the season, however, in an effort to boost faltering ratings, the action orientation returned as a result of the misleadings of the recurrent villain Paracelsus (played by Tony Jay).

In the resolution to the previous season's cliffhanger, Catherine rescued Vincent from his inner demons but was kidnapped by a man named Gabriel (played by Stephen McHattie),[6] the ruthless head of a huge criminal empire she had been investigating, which was trying to corrupt the D.A.

Although still popular with its dedicated fans, the darker, more resolutely violent aspects of the reworked concept, coupled with the fatal loss of the all-important central relationship between Catherine and Vincent, led to further declining ratings and, ultimately, cancellation.

[23] The television series starred New Zealand actor Jay Ryan as Vincent (the "beast") and Canadian actress Kristin Kreuk as Catherine (the "beauty").