Rupert Penry-Jones
Rupert Penry-Jones as Quinlan in FX's "The Strain." (Michael Gibson/FX)

Rupert Penry-Jones in ‘The Strain’: Not the face!

Rupert Penry-Jones finally gets his close-up in the upcoming episode of “The Strain.” He just doesn’t look like himself.

Penry-Jones plays Quinlan—“a warrior, an outsider, an enigma,” according to FX. I’m thrilled to see the British actor back on my TV, but did “The Strain” creators have to cover that face? Really?

I mean, look at his face.

Even I have to admit that yes, they did. Quinlan is at least part vampire—the white skin with blue veins popping and vamp eyes give that much away. Viewers will learn more about the mysterious character in “The Born,” debuting Sunday on FX.

Thanks to the episode preview above, we do know that he’s no fan of the Master. He and Setrakian compare notes and Quinlan wins bragging rights over the elderly vampire hunter. He’s been hunting the Master his entire life—which seems to be at least since Roman times. Setrakian might be old, but he’s not that old.

Quinlan doesn’t seem to happy to learn the Master has taken over Bolivar’s body. “Welcome to the new world,” Master Bolivar says. Quinlan screams.

Eph (Corey Stoll) will hunt a monster of his own in the episode. Last week his trip to Washington was cut short when his friend was killed. (RIP character played by guest star Tom Ellis—see you in Fox’s “Lucifer” in 2016!) He makes his way back to New York and sets his sights on Eldritch Palmer (Jonathan Hyde), who hired the assassin.

Related: Natalie Brown on her Feelers: I was lucky

Quinlan meets with Setrakian (David Bradley) and Fet (Kevin Durand) when the duo uses Fitzwilliam’s intel to attack the Master.

“I’d never had to wear prosthetics before,” Penry-Jones told The Hollywood Reporter. “Working with a new face worried me, but ended up being my favorite thing … I love the way he looks.”

Sure, sure. But for those Penry-Jones fans who, like me, will miss seeing his face, I’ve included a bunch of photos from his past roles, including Adam Carter “MI-5,” Clive Reader in “Silk” and Joseph Chandler in “Whitechapel.”

More recently he played Thomas Hamilton in the Starz drama “Black Sails.”

See him as Quinlan when “The Strain” returns at 9 p.m. CT Aug. 23 on FX.

Rupert Penry-Jones
Rupert Penry-Jones as Quinlan in FX’s “The Strain.” (Michael Gibson/FX)