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Should Netflix Go Apocalyptic with a New Zombie Show?

Is it time to dethrone The Walking Dead with a new, original zombie show from Netflix?

By Peter DillPublished 7 years ago 4 min read
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From Mary Shelley’s famous 1818 novel Frankenstein to the 2013 film World War Z, zombies have been a huge part of our culture ever since the term was first believed to have become part of the English language about 200 years ago. Thought to originate from West African culture, the undead have come to be popularised over the years in films like George A. Romero's 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead when they became the flesh-eating thing of nightmares.

A Major Obsession

The global obsession with zombies runs deep, with the creatures appearing in film, TV, literature, and even inspiring actual live experiences which recreate the thrills and terror of trying to outrun the living dead. Zombies have even infiltrated the world of iGaming, with themed online slot games such as Lost Vegas. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, it features a host of zombie characters which can influence the game's outcome by acting as "wilds," or as online guides explain, substitutes for other symbols to create a winning combination. There are more eccentric zombie offerings in the gaming world, such as Plants vs. Zombies where plants are unlikely allies to defend your house against zombie attacks. The undead have even become a topic of genuine scientific research, with experts going so far as to estimate that it would take just 100 days for humankind to be wiped out by a zombie apocalypse. There's even been a survey in which 25 percent of people said they would try to protect survivors if they were ever infected by a zombie. Don’t worry though, as we’re not ashamed to admit we’ve put together a guide advising how you can be prepared for when this happens.

While they are clearly a multimedia phenomenon, perhaps the best current example of the popularity of zombies is seen on TV with AMC’s The Walking Dead which debuted in 2010.

Small-Screen Scares

Based on Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel series of the same name, the show is in rude health as it continues to follow the efforts of Rick Grimes and other survivors as they attempt to stay alive in a post-apocalyptic world. While the show is set to return later this year with Season 8, it has even spawned the spin-off prequel Fear The Walking Dead. Undoubtedly a huge global success, even after a fall in ratings in 2016, the show was still getting around 11 million viewers in the US. This level of success has meant that other broadcasters have been quick to act by launching their own shows with a zombie feel.

Another Direction

As well as being home to a host of zombie films, Netflix is now also broadcasting a couple of series which have taken the concept of the undead into some rather quirky directions. The CW Network may be best known as the home of ongoing Arrow and 2014’s The Flash, but its show iZombie was launched in 2015. Starring Rose McIver, the series’ slightly bizarre premise revolves around a medical student who is turned into a zombie and now helps to solve crimes. How? Well, when she eats the brains of dead people, she gets an insight into their personality and can also experience flashbacks which help with investigations. Honestly, it is better than it might sound.

Another big zombie series which Netflix has pushed in recent months has been Santa Clarita Diet. One of the service’s original creations, it stars Drew Barrymore as a real-estate agent looking to get by in life despite transforming into a zombie obsessed with eating human flesh.

A Fresh Approach?

While both of these shows have found an enthusiastic and devoted audience—iZombie’s viewing figures in the US hover around the one-million mark while Santa Clarita Diet has been renewed for a second series—both are frankly well behind The Walking Dead in terms of popularity and pop culture clout. There may well be a host of reasons for this, but it is particularly hard to ignore the differences in their premise. Could it simply be the case that viewers prefer their zombies to be a little less talkative and human and more like mindless killing machines? Perhaps it is simply that the fish-out-of-water antics of having a zombie attempt to adjust to human life are just far less compelling than watching humans battle for survival. The latter is certainly a more traditional way that we are used to seeing zombies in TV and film, so maybe we are all just quite old-school when it comes to how we like our flesh-eating fiends.

A Potential Hit

No doubt you will have your own views on this issue, but it is definitely an interesting debate which may not be lost on the folks at Netflix. After all, while there might well be a place for quirkier shows on zombies, perhaps commissioning something which focuses more on survival, horror, and gore could see the streaming service have a real hit on its hands. More than 100 million people subscribe to Netflix worldwide, so it is fairly easy to see how the right zombie show which connects with viewers may not only blow The Walking Dead out of the water, but also become a pop-culture touchstone in its own right.

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About the Creator

Peter Dill

Ph.D. in Cinema Studies, born in LA moved to New York, will never regret it.

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