Z Nation (SyFy)

[CagleMtnVol]

Z Nation

Fall 2014

Syfy Announces All-New Zombie Series 'Z Nation'

via press release:

SYFY ANNOUNCES ALL-NEW ZOMBIE SERIES Z NATION


13-Episode Series To Premiere in Fall 2014


NEW YORK – April 7, 2014 – Syfy today announced Z Nation, a 13-episode zombie series set to debut in the fall. From production company The Asylum (Sharknado), the action-horror series depicts the epic struggle to save humanity after a zombie apocalypse. The series, which will air on Syfy, will be produced by The Asylum and sold internationally by Dynamic Television.


Karl Schaefer (Eerie Indiana, Eureka, The Dead Zone) will serve as executive producer and showrunner. "Z Nation will take viewers where no zombie has gone before,” says Schaefer. The show, he continues, adds “a sense of hope to the horror of the apocalypse – our everyday heroes take the fight to the zombies. It’ll be an epic journey unlike anything you've seen before.”


In making the announcement, Chris Regina, Senior Vice President, Programming, Syfy, said: “Z Nation is a unique new journey into the long established zombie genre. Instead of existential despair, the series offers hope that somehow, some way, humanity will not only survive, but triumph. In producing their first ever weekly series, our long-time partners The Asylum have created a different way of telling an iconic story.”


In Z Nation, three years have passed since the zombie virus has gutted the country, and a team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood. Although the antibodies he carries are the world’s last, best hope for a vaccine, he hides a dark secret that threatens them all. With humankind’s survival at stake, the ragtag band embarks on a journey of survival across three thousand miles of rusted-out post-apocalyptic America.


Z Nation is a dynamic ensemble drama that will plunge viewers into a fully-imagined post-zombie America and take them on an adventure with a diverse group of richly-drawn characters. As the reluctant heroes learn to work as a team and battle ever-more-menacing zombies, their flaws, idiosyncrasies, and moral dilemmas will ultimately become the heart of the show.

The Asylum's Zombie Series Z Nation Scares Up 13-Episode Order From Syfy

The Asylum's Zombie Series Z Nation Scares Up 13-Episode Order From Syfy


If you’ve paid attention to the low-to-no-budget movie scene in the past few years, you've probably noticed production company The Asylum’s name has come up time and again, attached to some truly abysmal flicks, most of which are developed to ape larger theatrical releases. (They put out Atlantic Rim right around the time Pacific Rim came out.) Their biggest “successes” have come through their creature-mashing Syfy Originals, including the social media monster Sharknado, and that relationship is going to the next level as the two will team up for the zombie-killing series Z Nation, which received a full 13-episode order. I’m trying to think of a hyperbolic joke to tell, but a zombie series from The Asylum is about as extreme as it gets.

Luckily, Z Nation has a strong showrunner in Karl Shaefer, who created the oddball cult 1990s series Eerie, Indiana and Strange Luck, as well as writing and producing for shows like Eureka and Stephen King’s Dead Zone. In a press release, he says that the series will add “a sense of hope to the horror of the apocalypse,” and that it’s “an epic journey unlike anything you’ve seen before.” There’s the hyperbole I was looking for, only he’s serious about it. To give him credit, the story may actually be a refreshing addition to the watered-down sub-genre, if it actually does what they say it will.

Z Nation will take place three years after a zombie virus has wiped out most of the country’s population. A team of heroic people head out on a trip from New York to California to transport the only plague survivor in existence to the only functional viral lab left in the country. Little do they know the survivor holds a dark secret inside, as well as those oh-so-important antibodies they hope to create a vaccine from.

Unlike other zombie stories, such as AMC’s ratings champion The Walking Dead, Z Nation will turn the humans from prey to predators as they bring the fight to the zombies on their cross-country quest. But of course the characters’ “flaws, idiosyncrasies and moral dilemmas will ultimately become the heart of the show,” according to the announcement. Can't anything just be about carnage anymore?

We’re assuming the casting and production will come together fairly quickly, as Syfy is planning on premiering Z Nation this Fall (2014). My money is on Casper Van Dien or Richard Grieco leading this human crew.

 

[Coug]

No script, no actors, and they plan on airing this in the fall. This will be full of win.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

I love how they tout this as "unlike anything we've seen before", when it sounds like every other zombie movie/show ever made.

So basically a much lower budget Walking Dead with worse actors and a worse story, brought to you buy a production company known for their terrible movies. Yeah....this should work out great.

 

[BadJerry20]

They had me at Sharknado

 

[MG1968]

Sure, they cancel good shows like Eureka, Stargate: Universe and Caprica in order to make room for crap reality shows, WWE wrestling and now this.

Are the executives at SyFy the same idiots who thought the merger between Tech TV and G4 was a good idea?

 

[SWIL]

programming for the lowest common denominator, it seems.

 

[95 Vol Alum]

programming for the lowest common denominator, it seems.

Zombies watch TV?

 

[SWIL]

Zombies watching Zombies

 

[CagleMtnVol]

Harold Perrineau, Tom Everett Scott & DJ Qualls Join Syfy’s Zombie Drama ‘Z Nation’

Harold Perrineau, Tom Everett Scott & DJ Qualls Join Syfy’s Zombie Drama ‘Z Nation’


Syfy has rounded out the cast for its new zombie drama Z Nation set for debut this fall. From The Asylum, the company behind the network’s hit schlocky horror franchise Sharknado, the 13-episode action-horror series depicts the epic struggle to save humanity after a zombie apocalypse. Harold Perrineau (Oz, Lost), Tom Everett Scott (Southland, Beauty And The Beast), DJ Qualls (Supernatural), Michael Welch (Twilight trilogy) and Kellita Smith (The Bernie Mac Show) have joined the ensemble drama, currently in production in Spokane, WA. Perrineau will play Hammond, the leader of the group headed west; Scott plays Garnett, Hammond’s second-in-command; and Qualls plays the role of Citizen Z, a computer hacker who joins the team and helps them navigate the zombie-infested terrain. Welch and Smith are Mack and Addy, respectively, two disparate wanderers drawn to the team – and to each other – by a shared goal: survival. Rounding out the ensemble are Anastasia Baranova (The Darkness II) as Addy, Russell Hodgkinson (Big Fish) as Doc and Keith Allan (Rise Of The Zombies) as Murphy. Karl Schaefer (Eerie Indiana, Eureka, The Dead Zone) serves as executive producer and showrunner.

.

 

[Coug]

Sure, they cancel good shows like Eureka, Stargate: Universe and Caprica in order to make room for crap reality shows, WWE wrestling and now this.

Are the executives at SyFy the same idiots who thought the merger between Tech TV and G4 was a good idea?

What's sad is that Eureka was in fact drawing SyFy a profit. It was by no means a financial drag on the network. It wasn't making ENOUGH profit for their network and that's what got it the axe.

The logic is just so off. Let's axe a show that we know is making our network a profit and air a completely new show that we have no idea as to whether it will be good or not. :crazy: