The CW will serve up the premiere of “iZombie” in just two months on Tuesday, March 17 after “The Flash,” but they’ve also just dropped a brain-eating filled trailer in our laps! And it looks tasty.
iZombie is based on the DC/Vertigo comic of the same title by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred. It looks like a lot of the original details from the comic have been changed. The main character is no longer named “Gwen” but is now “Liv” (Get it? Liv? *wink wink*) and instead of being a gravedigger she now works in a medical examiner’s office.
However, the main conceit is the same: she consumes the brains of the people who come across her table, and then she goes off to solve crimes, right wrongs, or otherwise resolve unfinished business.
I rather liked the original comic for the couple of years it ran– strong female protagonist, interesting take on the afterlife and supernatural. The comic also included Gwen’s friends who included a ghost and a were-terrier, but it remains to be seen if these will show up on the CW show. Perhaps that’s a little too “Being Human” at this point?
The show also looks a little more like a medical procedural, and perhaps that’s the influence of showrunners Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero, both of whom brought us Veronica Mars.
This genealogy (Veronica Mars meets Roberson/Allred) and what we’re seeing in this trailer makes me very excited for this premiere. I’m interested if they bring the most unique and interesting aspect of the comic: that Gwen had to eat at least one brain a month or else she would become a mindless zombie. But, in eating the brains of others, she took on their thoughts, memories, and even a touch of their personality and identity.
So Gwen’s constant conundrum was whether to completely lose herself and her personality, or merely temporarily. Methinks not, as that could get complex. Maybe it’s more of a “Season 2” conceit. We can only hope.
See you all on St. Patrick’s Day for a feast of brains and police work.