Helmed by Veronica Mars’ Rob Thomas, iZombie has been causing its fair share of buzz this year as part of the new CW lineup. Fan were saddened to hear that the pilot, set to screen on preview night, was not making an appearance, but today’s panels had plenty of peeks in store for eager fans.
For those who are unfamiliar, iZombie is the story of Liv Moore, a young woman who has recently become the undead. She becomes a coroner to get steady access to the brains she needs to survive, but discovers an interesting side effect; she gets a link to the person the brain belonged, specifically allowing her to find out how that person died. Which makes her super useful for solving crimes! So it’s kind of a Pushing Daisies meets Warm Bodies kind of thing? But with a female detective like Veronica Mars.
Here are some highlights for the panel:
It all began with a 15 minute sneak peek, with many fans noting that the voiceover in the show is incredibly similar to Mars.
- The reason why the pilot was not screened on preview night was due to a couple last-minute casting changes, it seems. They have to do a few reshoots.
- There will only be zombies in this show, no other supernatural creatures. So don’t have your hearts set on the appearance of vampires and the like.
- Rose McIver (who plays Liv) was the 100th actress to audition for the role. They were working hard to find the right person for the part, and she was charming, someone they felt you could root for.
- According to Rob Thomas: “People often put Veronica Mars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the same category. We put iZombie closer to Buffy.”
- David Anders (from Alias, Heroes, 24, Vampire Diaries, and Once Upon A Time, just a name a few familiar shows) is playing a bad guy again, but he’ll get to make jokes this time! Loki was name-dropped as a comparison, indicating that they have no intention to dial back on the scenery-chewing. In regard to getting killed off so often, he says the he hopes they give him two seasons to prove his worth.
- Malcolm Goodwin (who plays Clive on the show) says, “I watched a lot of Shaft to prepare for this role.”
- According to Rose McIver, playing a zombie is the fun part of the show… playing a med student is what’s hard.
- Except people from Veronica Mars and Party Down to show up. Does this mean they share a universe? Only time will tell. (The villain for this show was implied to be the brother of Roman from Party Down, so…)
- There will be an overarching zombie season plotline in addition to each weekly murder.
- How do the brains taste? They’re made of fondant or soy protein, so they’re pretty bland. They’re working on giving McIver some tastier options in the future.
Starting to get pretty excited for this one! Can’t wait for the pilot!
All of our ongoing San Diego Comic Con 2014 coverage can be found here.
