It may come as somewhat of a surprise that the CW didn’t greenlight ‘iZombie’ because of the success of ‘The Walking Dead.’ The network actually wanted to have a female-centric series in the same vein as ‘Veronica Mars’ or ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’

If you haven’t been tuning into ‘iZombie,’ the series is based on the comic created by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred. Rose McIver plays Liv, a doctor on the brink of professional and personal success who suddenly turns into a zombie after a party-turned-bloodbath. She breaks up with her fiancée, leaves her promising medical career, and takes a job in a morgue so she can secretly feast on brains. However, when she devours each brain, she obtains the dead person’s memories and ends up helping the police department solve crimes.

‘iZombie’ creators and executive producers Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero were initially tasked by the CW to create a show that focuses on female empowerment.

At this year’s WonderCon, Thomas stated, “It was, ‘CW and its next kickass female lead on the network. Do the next ‘Buffy’ or ‘Veronica Mars.’ It was the opportunity to do that.”

(As many marshmallows know, Thomas is no stranger to shows that exemplify female empowerment given he’s the creator of ‘Veronica Mars.’)

Thomas and Ruggiero also touched upon the differences between the TV series and the comic. The comic includes many other supernatural monsters, but the series creators didn’t want to bring those types in, stating that ‘True Blood’ had that world “already covered.”

Thomas added, “The places where we deviated from the comic book, there was a logic for us. In the comic, the main character is a gravedigger. But it wouldn’t have given us a case of the week.”

Thomas and Ruggiero assured fans that Roberson and Allred approve of the series. In fact, Allred actually designed the title sequence.

Have you been watching ‘iZombie’? What do you think of the show so far?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter