‘iZombie’ Season 4 Pays Tribute to George Romero With New ‘Cemetery to Table’ Restaurant Named Romero’s
On a day when “Fear the Walking Dead” and “The Walking Dead” stalked into Comic-Con, at least “iZombie” brought friendlier zombie faces to San Diego.
During the panel for the CW series on Friday, creators Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright answered questions along with cast members Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley, David Anders, and Aly Michalka. The show had just wrapped up its third season in which a new world order was declared in the finale.
When last we left Liv (McIver) and her friends, militant zombie leader Chase Graves (Jason Dehiring) had his Fillmore Graves employees taint all the vaccines in Seattle with zombie blood, which created a mass outbreak of zombie-ism. At the same time, news about Seattle becoming a zombie city broke on TV. So zombies are fully out now, no tanning or hair dyeing necessary anymore to pass as human.
Meanwhile, Major (Buckley) is back to being a zombie, Peyton (Michalka) is still human and working with the zombie mayor, Clive’s (Goodwin) lady love is now a member of Team Z, and Ravi’s (Kohli) fate is unknown after he took a trial vaccine to prevent zombie-ism but then asked Liv to scratch him in order to test it.
Check out the scoop from the panel:
The New Seattle Now that Discovery Day has happened, Thomas feels that opens up the kinds of stories that “iZombie” can tell since zombies are out of the closet. That means Seattle will have to adjust to zombie citizens and their needs. And of course, new puns.
In particular, one change is a sweet nod to the late George Romero, who created the modern-day zombies we know today. The business Shady Plots will instead make way for a “cemetery to table” Michelin star restaurant that serves the brainssss that zombie-kind needs to survive. It’s name? Romero’s.
As for how brains will be harvested for consumption, Episode 1 will tackle those logistics by showing a random person will dying and how the brain is processed for distribution. One thing to note though is that there simply aren’t enough brains in Seattle to meet demand. Uh-oh!
There will also be issues with how humans and zombies interact. Head honcho Chase Graves (Jason Dehiring) will make it illegal for zombies to scratch humans and therefore not zombify the population further. At the Seattle PD, each detective will be working closely with a zombie in order to understand the new citizens. Additionally, Thomas teased that there will be something akin to a refugee crisis with sick people flooding into Seattle in order to get cured by becoming a zombie.
Some of the real-world implications of people in need coming into a place and needing help to integrate wasn’t lost on the cast. Michalka likes how the series’ message about working in harmony with newcomers. “It’s such a commentary on what’s happening in America right now,” she said.
Liv and Love Thomas revealed that Liv will get another love interest this season and that person’s name was chosen just because it would be hilarious when combined to be a ‘shipper name with Liv’s. Let’s hope this person lives. As for her trajectory this season, she’ll be a bigger player in the PD since she’s a zombie who has been working for them the whole time unbeknownst to the humans, but she’ll also have a rebellious streak. As for one brain she’ll eat newt season, prepare yourself for Liv on hockey goon brain.
Ravi Working for the Cure Kohli wouldn’t reveal Ravi’s fate, but he said, “Seeing these guys do brains, it’s so tempting to get in on it.” Ravi will stand with the zombies this season and continue to try and develop a cure.
Clive Will Stand by His Woman Although Clive’s love Dale Bozzio (Jessica Harmon) got one of those bad zombie vaccines last season and turned, he won’t abandon her. Since he’s been partnering with Liv, he’s learned that zombies are people too and will take Dale’s condition day by day. Clive also might be busy with this new Seattle, but he still found time to watch “Game of Thrones” and even dresses up as Khal Drogo.
Major Problems Major has found a home at Fillmore Graves, but will have friction with Liv as they fall on opposite sides of the human-zombie matter in Seattle.
Blaine’s Daddy Issues Blaine will be happy to be done with his good era nd back to his “mustache-twirling ways.” He’ll also have to deal with his father Angus more now that it was revealed during the panel that Robert Knepper has been upped to a series regular for Season 4. Out of joy, Anders sang a few bars of “Papa Can You Hear Me?” to the crowd’s delight. As for his romance with Peyton, Anders believes that ship has sailed.
Peyton’s Place As a lawyer who’s familiar with zombies, she’ll have to deal with a slew of zombie and human crime cases. Therefore she’ll be in the courtroom more often, and although she has respect for Chase Graves, she’ll also challenge his ethics.
That’s it for the scoop. As a bonus, the panel also released a sizzle reel with some of the top moments from Season 3 below:
Stay on top of the latest TV news! Sign up for our TV email newsletter here.
