The first trailer for iZombie has all the hallmarks of a Rob Thomas TV series: A snarky female protagonist (med student-turned-undead girl Liv) with a self-aware voiceover… who solves crimes in unusual ways (eating brains)… all set against a wailing soundtrack. Stylistically, at least, it seems to be closer to Thomas’ other television series than the Vertigo comic book series on which it’s based.
We won’t know if this distance from the source material will help or harm the series until it premieres in March. Thomas did say at San Diego Comic-Con that iZombie is actually closer to Buffy the Vampire Slayer than Veronica Mars, though interestingly the creators elected to have zombies be the only supernatural beings in the show’s universe—as opposed to the comic, where vampires and apocalypses are both commonplace.
The CW’s first look gives you fleeting glimpses of the humans who discover Liv’s secret, as well as her dawning realization that she’s not the only zombie out there—and that some of her fellow undead don’t want to eat corpse’s brains and solve crimes. Watch the trailer:
iZombie premieres March 17 at 9 p.m. EST on The CW.
