Dr. Julia Hoffman as portrayed by actress Kelly Hu in the 2004 pilot was an emergency room doctor, called upon for her advice by the Collinsport Sheriff. She treated Carolyn after the young woman was attacked by a vampire and recognized the same wounds on the corpse of Kelly Green. Some criticism was directed at her casting, in part because Kelly Hu is Asian American but also because she is both younger and more conventionally attractive than either Grayson Hall or Barbara Steele, each of whom played Dr. Julia Hoffman previously.