Syfy is entering the hot zombie genre with Z Nation, a 13-episode series from Asylum, the company behind the network’s hit schlocky horror franchise Sharknado. Executive produced/showrun by Karl Schaefer (Eureka), Z Nation is set three years after 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 unique new journey into the long established zombie genre,” said Syfy SVP Chris Regina. “Instead of existential despair, the series offers hope that somehow, some way, humanity will not only survive, but triumph.” Added Schaefer, “Our everyday heroes take the fight to the zombies.” Z Nation, set to premiere this fall, will be produced by Asylum, in its debut doing a regular series, and sold internationally by Dynamic Television. Schaefer is repped by APA and Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox & Light LLP.

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Z Nation is one of a number of high-profile zombie projects to take flight in the wake of the blockbuster success of AMC’s mega-hit The Walking Dead. ABC’s midseason series Resurrection deals with dead ones returning to life, as does the acclaimed French series The Returned, which is being remade by A&E. The CW has pilot iZombie and NBC has pilot Babylon Fields. The genre also did well on the big screen last year with Brad Pitt’s World War Z. Syfy has been on a pickup spree in the past few weeks as it is building a new slate, ordering new series 12 Monkeys and Z Nation and miniseries/limited series Olympus and Ascension and renewing Helix for Season 2.



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