The Enduring Legacy of iZombie in the Zombie TV Boom

Zombies have been a mainstay of popular culture for years, but they particularly became a phenomenon on TV during the 2010s, from epic hits such as The Walking Dead (2010–2022) to silly experiments like Netflix’s horror-comedy The Santa Clarita Diet (2017–2018). In a similar vein was the supernatural procedural dramedy iZombie, which aired for five seasons on The CW. It never became a smash hit, but attracted a very devoted fan base who loved its witty writing, its likable characters, and the offbeat mix of weekly whodunits and bigger zombie mythology.

The series is a loose adaptation of a Vertigo comic by writer Chris Roberson and artist Michael Allred. Set in Eugene, Oregon, the comics center around zombie gravedigger Gwen Dylan, who can keep her memories and mental faculties only by eating a brain every 30 days. She is best friends with a 1960s ghost and a were-terrier named Scott “Spot,” with whom she deals with various supernatural threats such as vampires and mummies. The TV series, which was developed by Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright, takes the basic premise but rewrites almost everything else, changing the location to Seattle and only borrowing Allred’s influence in the show’s comic-book-style opening titles as well as the theme song, a cover of “Stop, I’m Already Dead” by Deadboy & The Elephant Men.

The lead character of Liv Moore, portrayed by Rose McIver, was introduced as a driven medical student and was the center of an idyllic universe, until one night, after a boat party, gets turned into a bloodbath when a strain of the energy drink Max Rager is mixed with a contaminated batch of the designer drug Utopium. After being scratched by a zombie while trying to escape, Liv wakes up as a zombie inside a body bag on a beach, newly undead and hungry for brains. She breaks up with her fiancé, Major (Robert Buckley), to keep him safe, grows apart from her best friend, Peyton (Aly Michalka), and finds a job at the medical examiner’s office as a way to easily get access to brains and to continue her zombie vigilante project.

Liv’s boss, Ravi Chakrabarti (Rahul Kohli), however, soon discovers her undead state. Ravi, who had been fired from the CDC years earlier for having sounded an alarm about a potential virus just like the zombie infection, is enthralled by the mystery of Liv and promises to find a cure for her. Liv is also paired with Detective Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin), who is convinced she’s psychic. In truth, however, Liv (along with all zombies) absorbs the last memories of whomever she eats upon consuming their brains, which, besides granting the zombie any particular personality traits, can often reveal who murdered them. These effects, however, can be wildly diverse and random, from useful foreign language abilities to crippling phobias to dead people’s secret hidden talents.

Brains, Baddies & All the Characters You’ll Remember Forever

Of course, a good drama needs a compelling bad guy, and iZombie found one in Blaine DeBeers (David Anders), the zombie who bit Liv at the boat party. After getting into the brain-selling business when his dealer was arrested for selling the tainted Utopium, Blaine becomes a brain trafficker himself, turning well-to-do and impressionable people into zombies to ensure he has a steady supply of customers. Charismatic and cunning, Blaine was a love-to-hate villain but also occasionally an ally (and possible love interest) for Liv and the gang.

The show’s jokes were often in the details. For example, Major’s last name was “Lillywhite,” Blaine’s butchery in season one was named “Meat Cute,” Ravi and Major’s dog was named “Minor,” and a zombie bar was called “The Scratching Post.” Fans also got a kick out of seeing the different dishes that Liv (or Blaine) whipped up with whatever brains were available to them, from Liv’s stir-fries, pizza roll mixes, and hush puppies to Blaine’s gourmet gnocchi stuffed with medulla oblongata.

The cast grew larger as the years passed, with Jessica Harmon’s Dale Bozzio developing from an FBI investigator to Clive’s sidekick and Bryce Hodgson making two separate appearances, first as Scott E. as a memorable mental hospital patient, and then as his identical twin, Don E., as part of Blaine’s organization. Many of the best supporting roles were played by people who made only a single appearance, such as Daran Norris as sleazy weatherman Johnny Frost or Steven Weber as Max Rager CEO Vaughan du Clark. Of course, no television fan is ever going to forget Rita (Leanne Lapp), the daughter of Vaughan, who met a gruesomely appropriate end in the season two finale after being infected, “going full Romero” by devouring her father’s brains and then being killed herself.

Possibly one of the most consistent highlights of the show, however, was the fact that Liv’s personalities after she ate brains were so vastly different and wacky. From a dominatrix to a foul-mouthed baby to a LARP-enthusiast college professor to a stereotypical Latino bully to a children’s basketball coach to a martial arts master to even a perfume-spraying cat to a girl who can’t stop shouting about how she loves puppies, McIver was in absolute peak form as she played through the different manifestations of Liv’s personality as the seasons went by. For some episodes, these traits would just be in-joke flavor-of-the-week zingers, such as Lowell eating a gay man’s brain before going on a date with Liv or Liv, Blaine, and Don E. sharing a common understanding after eating paranoia-driven brains and bonding over conspiracies.