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SYFY WIRE Revival

Everything to Know About SYFY’s New Series Revival

SYFY’s upcoming horror series is set to spin an undead mystery across the creepily quiet Midwest.

By Benjamin Bullard
Ghouls surround a young blonde woman in a dress on the cover of Revival #41/

Straight from the pages of the critically-acclaimed comics and into your TV nightmares, SYFY is calling forth Revival, a new live-action horror series that’s set to cast a dark supernatural pall over your surest assumptions about the safety and tranquility of quiet life in rural America.

Announced earlier this year as an all-new SYFY original series, Revival will be based on the Harvey Awards-nominated 2010s comic title of the same name from writer Tim Seeley and artist Mike Norton. Original publisher Image Comics describes Revival as a “beautiful 'farm noir' that puts a new twist on the zombie genre,” a huge comics clue to tip you off to the sinister themes to be found in the upcoming SYFY series.

What is Revival on SYFY about?

A hand holding a crowbar approaches a woman on the cover Revival #42.

Part of the dark allure of Revival’s comics run is the compelling way it laces a steady thread of mystery into its horror-tinged supernatural story. Led by small-town cop Dana Cypress — a Wisconsin single mom who's mourning a recently-deceased sister of her own — Revival dares to raise the dead and then make them indistinguishable as they walk among the living: Even in their altered state, the “revived,” as the creators tease, “appear and act just like they once were.”

Here’s the official synopsis from Image Comics:

For one day in rural central Wisconsin, the dead came back to life. Now it's up to Officer Dana Cypress to deal with the media scrutiny, religious zealots, and government quarantine that has come with them. In a town where the living have to learn to deal with those who are supposed to be dead, Officer Cypress must solve a brutal murder, and everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect. A beautiful 'farm noir' that puts a new twist on the zombie genre.

Just as key to Revival’s central mystery is Dana’s dead sister Em, a lately-departed local who doesn’t stay dead for long. Was Em murdered? So it seems — and that’s a mystery in itself — but in order to solve Em’s criminal case, Dana will have to uncover the hidden links between her sister’s fate and the listless supernatural phenomenon that’s wakened the rest of the town’s dead from their not-so-eternal Midwestern slumber.

The Revival cast: Who will star in SYFY’s new series?

A man reaches out to a woman in water on the cover Revival #47.

The undead tell no tales, and so far, there’s similarly been no early casting word on who the SYFY series might tap to play Dana, Em, or any of the other characters (alive or otherwise) who’ll populate their troubled town. The series itself, though, hails from Blue Ice Pictures, the very same production outfit behind SYFY’s own SurrealEstate.

Revival launched in comics form in the summer of 2012, and created an almost-immediate buzz among TV and film studios seeking to adapt its story for the screen. The comic itself, along with creators Seeley, Norton, and cover artist Jenny Frison, earned oodles of recognition as Revival went on to score a trio of nominations for the Harvey Awards (which pay annual tribute to outstanding comics achievement).

When will Revival debut on SYFY?

Ghouls surround a young blonde woman in a dress on the cover of Revival #41/

Just as with the series’ casting, creators have so far been morbidly mum on identifying precisely when Revival will make its spooky SYFY premiere. The series was announced in May of 2024 alongside a planned premiere slated for sometime in 2025, which means it likely won’t be long before the floodgates open wide on more casting, creative, and scheduling news. We'll keep you good and posted though!

In the meantime, if you're craving some zombie goodness, shamble on over to Peacock for Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, Zombie Night, and more!

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