Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to a TV adaptation of Ryan Parrott’s comic book Dead Day.
The series comes from Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. The pair will serve as co-showrunners and writers on the series, which comes from Universal Television and Aftershock Media.
It reunites Plec and Williamson, who developed The Vampire Diaries, which ran for eight seasons on The CW.
Dead Day follows an ensemble of characters as they navigate the annual “dead day,” when for one night the dead come back to complete unfinished business — be that to celebrate a night back on earth or to torment the living.
The comics, which were published in 2020 by Aftershock Comics, follow the Haskins, a seemingly normal suburban family as they prepare for the zombie debauchery.
It is Plec’s latest project for Peacock; she is currently producing YA supernatural drama series Vampire Academy for the NBCU streamer and is also exec producing NBC series The Endgame, which premieres next month. Williamson recently exec produced the latest Scream film and is working on thriller Sick for Miramax Studios.
Plec will exec produce via her My So-Called Company and Williamson will exec produce via his Outerbanks Entertainment. Ben Fast, Emily Cummins and Lee Kramer are also set as exec producers alongside Jon Kramer and David Sigurani for AfterShock Media.
Parrott, writer of the original comics will serve as consulting producer.
“Dead Day combines an exciting, high-concept premise with relatable characters and real emotion,” said Lisa Katz, president scripted content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We jumped at the opportunity to work with Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson, who not only have tremendous individual track records with their high-quality storytelling, but have created magic together before.”
“Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson are each a powerhouse unto themselves, so we couldn’t have been more excited when they told us they wanted to team up again,” added Vivian Cannon, EVP, Drama Development, Universal Television. “Dead Day will be everything Julie and Kevin’s audiences love about their work—emotional, unexpected and totally bingeable.”