Mere hours after picking up Olympus, Syfy has given the greenlight to another scripted drama series.
The network has handed a 13 episode straight-to-series order to Z Nation, a zombie drama which hails from Sharknado producer The Asylum and Eureka scribe Karl Schaefer, who will serve as executive producer/showrunner. Production on Z Nation will commence this Summer for a Fall 2014 premiere. Dynamic Television will handle international distribution.
Z Nation is set three years after the zombie virus 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. Instead of existential despair, the series offers hope that somehow, some way, humanity will not only survive, but triumph”, said Chris Regina, Senior Vice President of Programming for Syfy. “In producing their first ever weekly series, our long-time partners The Asylum have created a different way of telling an iconic story.”
The 13 episode series is the latest scripted to project to get the greenlight at Syfy as the network has been undergoing some creative changes. The departure of Mark Stern and the cancellation of staple series Warehouse 13 and Being Human has seen Syfy, now under the direction of new President of Orginal Content Bill McGoldrick, recommit to scripted. That recommitment has included renewing Helix, picking up new dramas Dominion and Olympus and moving back into long-form with the event series Ascension.
