Z Nation – on SyFy and Space

In Z Nation, three years have passed since 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 stars Harold Perrineau (“Oz,” “Lost”) Tom Everett Scott (“Southland,” “Beauty and the Beast”), DJ Qualls (“Supernatural” “Memphis Beat”, “Perception”), Michael Welch (“Twilight” trilogy), Kellita Smith (“The Bernie Mac Show”) Anastasia Baranova (“The Darkness II”), Russell Hodgkinson (“Big Fish”) and Keith Allan (“Rise of the Zombies”).

One of the Space panels I enjoyed greatly at Fan Expo Canada in Toronto was the Z Nation panel with actor Tom Everett Scott and writer/producer Craig Engler.

The panel included a brief trailer for the show, which was more graphic than most shows I tune into.  As tempted as I have been to try watching the Walking Dead, for instance, zombies and gore are not in my wheelhouse, but listening to them talk about the show, I found myself wanting to tune in, even if I do spend portions of the episodes covering my eyes.

This is planned to be a show about travelling across the country, and by the sounds of it, they will not have a slow plodding journey.  They described a plot intensive show, with well thought out details for the Zombies, the virus that creates the Zombies, how the Zombies exist, and how those who are not Zombies are surviving in this new world.  In short, by the end of the panel someone who does not normally watch this genre of show but had come out of curiosity was ready to tune in.

As an added bit of fun, one of the characters, Citizen Z, has a twitter account up and running, and among other things he is giving advice (and taking advice) for surviving the Zombie Apocalypse.  You can tweet with @CitizenZNation.  Citizen Z is alone, in the arctic, with enough food to feed a hundred people for a year, and plenty of power, and access to satellites, giving him a global perspective on the Apocalypse… but who does he have to talk to??