When SYFY announced in 2024 that Revival — the Image Comics horror hit that debuted in 2012 — would be adapted into a SYFY original series, devoted readers rejoiced… but also had questions on exactly how they’d translate the terrifying saga for live action.
The Harvey Awards-nominated original story from writer Tim Seeley and artist Mike Norton was an instant hit that reinvented the undead narrative by making it personal, quirky, and existentially scary. Set in the rural community of Wausau, Wisconsin, Revival tells the gripping story of an “event” that finds townspeople who died on January 1 have come back to life on January 2.
No explanation. No apparent reasons. But it sure ignites one hell of a life changing flashpoint that comes to be known as “Revival Day.” It changes the lives of everyone in the small town, and on a broader level, fundamentally changes how everyone conceptualizes death. Local cop Dana Cypress (played by Wynona Earp vet Melanie Scrofano on the upcoming series), her Sheriff father Wayne (David James Elliott), and her younger sister Em (Romy Weltman) are embroiled in the repercussions of that fateful day.
Indie director/producer and series co-creator Luke Boyce tells SYFY WIRE that he fell in love with Revival for its unique take on how to tell a story of the undead (don’t call them zombies!), and for the dry humor that runs through the entire arc. But it was a long path to get Revival to the screen, which included bringing in co-creator Aaron B. Koontz to figure where this story best belonged.
The origins of SYFY’s Revival series
Boyce tells SYFY WIRE that his career making and producing independent horror shorts and films is what first introduced him to Seeley, whom he now considers a friend. Boyce got to see the initial reception for Revival as a comic book and the two loosely spoke about possible adaptations for quite some time. In 2020, those chats got more formal when they discussed turning Revival into a feature screenplay. And then COVID-19 hit, so they pivoted to collaborating on the original horror feature, Revealer, which Seeley wrote and Boyce directed.
“Revealer was an exercise of creativity, trying to get through the lockdown. It was a response to that,” Boyce says. “Things hadn’t moved as well with Revival. And actually, as a result of that, that’s where I met Aaron. It was an interesting bit of synergy there that Aaron came on and produced Revealer for us. Then Aaron and I started talking about Revival. Aaron really took to it and started to have ideas himself, and got involved creatively.”
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Also a producer in indie horror film circles, Koontz was handed Revival to read, and says he was immediately taken by the first issue. “I love, just the weirdness of it, the abstract nature of it, and the quirkiness of it,” he explains to SYFY WIRE. “There’s a sense of humor, there’s a point of view. Also, this idea of a ‘rural noir,’ as [Tim] openly talks about at the beginning. There’s this Fargo-esque kind of world, but then it’s like a murder mystery where the person’s still alive. And I’m like, ‘This is cool as all hell!'”
However, Koontz couldn’t help but imagine Revival as a television series because of the character and ensemble focus throughout the story. “They had written such beautiful, interesting, flawed characters,” he says. “I’m like, ‘I can see Dana, I can see Em. I can see Wayne. I can see Ibrahim,’ so that created this foundation. Characters are what make a show live and what make a show breathe. If we can focus on them, we have something really, really special, regardless of all the crazy things that end up happening in the comics. That’s what’s going to keep everybody interested. And Tim and Mike had created that beautifully.”
Figuring out the big question: Should Revival be a movie or a television series?
When Revival was initially coming together as a feature screenplay, Boyce says there were all kinds of creative speed bumps. “The feature version was very different. I remember us going through the comic and saying, ‘Well, we’re not going to get to have this character, and this character…’ Looking back now, Ibrahim wasn’t a part of the feature and I can’t imagine this thing without Ibrahim. He’s one of my favorite characters in the show!”
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Boyce says they initially tried the feature path because that was in he and Koontz’s sandbox. “Aaron and I both come from the indie feature world. We know how to get films funded and made in a low budget, indie world, so that’s what we felt comfortable with,” he explains. “TV is like a whole ‘nother beast. But I think Aaron and I both met at the right time, where there was an opportunity there.
“It was really Aaron that pushed for the series,” Boyce continues. “I think even at one point the idea was maybe we do a limited series or something like that, and keep it contained. It was through Aaron that that evolved. As we started looking at what that could be, it just made a lot of sense. The comic is 47 issues, so there’s so much story there. In some cases, there’s too much story there, so a lot of it had to get pared down. It’s just so rich with character. And it’s so rich with Wausau, Wisconsin almost being a character in itself with the way that it land locks you into this quarantine zone where all these people are dealing with this thing that they don’t understand. That just makes it a fertile ground for story. When you end up looking at it, TV made just a lot more sense.”
Revival will make its SYFY premiere Thursday, June 12 at 10:00 p.m. ET, with episodes available to stream exclusively on Peacock a week after their air.
