Huge news out of the land of the undead today. According to The Wrap, Syfy has ordered a new television series to be “based” on George A. Romero’s 1985 classic Day of the Dead. While this appears on the surface to be great news for zombie fans, there are details that don’t seem to line up perfectly with this being a “remake” property.
According to the description, the series will consist of 10 episodes and will focus on the chaos and mayhem during the first 24 hours of a zombie invasion as six people attempt to coexist and fight together for their lives. It is interesting that the show would choose to go this route, as that more accurately describes the plot for Romero’s first zombie classic, Night of the Living Dead, rather than Day. The third installment in the writer/director’s universally-adored franchise of undead films, Day of the Dead instead tells the tale of a small group of scientists and military men living underground while the zombie apocalypse has already been plodding menacingly ahead in full-swing. It sounds initially like Syfy will be taking quite the artistic license with this Romero property, potentially keeping only the show name as a link between the two.
When the Day of the Dead series will begin casting or pre-production has not yet been announced, so all we can do at this point is speculate. Who is ultimately chosen to write and direct will make all the difference here. Whatever the case, this announcement is still great news as the zombie culture continues to expand its rotting flesh on the small screen.
The Day of the Dead 10-part series on Syfy is tentatively scheduled to premiere sometime in 2021.
