‘Dead Day’: Peacock Orders Zombie Comic Adaptation From TVD’s Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson
Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to a new zombie drama, ‘Dead Day‘, from the people behind ‘The Vampire Diaries’, Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson.
Based on the comic book by Ryan Parrott, ‘Dead Day’ follows an ensemble of characters as they navigate the annual “dead day,” when for one night the dead come back to complete unfinished business — be that to celebrate a night back on earth or to torment the living.
“Dead Day combines an exciting, high-concept premise with relatable characters and real emotion,” commented Lisa Katz, president of scripted content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We jumped at the opportunity to work with Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson, who not only have tremendous individual track records with their high-quality storytelling, but have created magic together before.”
The original comic was first published by Aftershock Comics in 2020, written by Ryan Parrott, with art by Evgeniy Bornyakov. The stories are somewhat different to your traditional brain munching zombie tales. Here, the dead retain their memories, so they can come back to say goodbye, have one last party with friends, or even track down their own killer…
Plec and Williamson, who developed ‘The Vampire Diaries’ franchise for The CW, serve as writers and co-showrunners. They also exec produce with Ben Fast, Emily Cummins and Lee Kramer alongside AfterShock Media’s Jon Kramer and David Sigurani. Original comic author, Ryan Parrott, serves as a consulting producer. Universal Television and Aftershock Media produce the series.
“Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson are each a powerhouse unto themselves, so we couldn’t have been more excited when they told us they wanted to team up again,” adds Vivian Cannon, EVP, Drama Development, Universal Television. “Dead Day will be everything Julie and Kevin’s audiences love about their work – emotional, unexpected and totally bingeable.”
This will be Julie Plec’s second project for Peacock, alongside ‘Vampire Academy’, another YA vampire series, unconnected to her previous franchise. Plec moved her production company, My So-Called Company, to Universal TV in January 2020 from its previous home at WB after signing a multiple-year overall deal with NBCUniversal.
‘Dead Day‘ does not yet have a premiere date, but will air on Peacock in the USA. Given Universal are producing, it is likely the series will also air on Peacock UK, although that doesn’t always follow. We’ll let you know when we hear more. If you want to keep track of this or any other shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when they get a UK premiere date.
