A Love Letter to iZombie: CW’s Smartest Zombie Show

Zombies may never go out of style, but they definitely had a moment on TV during the 2010s. That decade gave us AMC’s juggernaut, The Walking Dead (2010–2022), and Netflix’s irreverent horror-comedy The Santa Clarita Diet (2017–2018). Somewhere in between, albeit with fewer resources and less marketing, came iZombie, a detective show with a bit of a murder mystery, undead melodrama, and a good amount of absurdist comedy.

Showrunner duo Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright created this rare zombie comedy for The CW, where it ran for a commendable five seasons from 2015 to 2019. The series was loosely based on a Vertigo comic book series of the same name by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred. Thomas and Ruggiero-Wright took the basic premise from the comic and veered away from the source material’s plot, but kept the undead core beating.

The original comic book series followed the adventures of Gwen Dylan, an African-American zombie gravedigger in Eugene, Oregon. To remember who she is and retain her memories, Gwen must eat a human brain every 30 days. Along for the ride is an amiable ghost and a telepathic were-terrier, providing Gwen with supernatural chums to discuss life and death.

The show’s pilot script got bought by The CW, but went in another direction. The series reimagined the comic book world with new characters, a Seattle setting, and a protagonist who was decidedly more bubbly and manic. Instead of Gwen Dylan, Thomas and Ruggiero-Wright’s new undead heroine was Liv Moore—don’t worry, the name was on purpose. Played by New Zealand actress Rose McIver, Liv was a type-A medical student and a type-B lab partner to Major (Robert Buckley), the only person she let get too close to her.

After the two attend a boat party with Liv’s other lab partner Peyton (Aly Michalka) that goes terribly awry because of a new designer drug called Utopium mixed with an energy drink called Max Rager, Liv becomes one of the living dead. Having been scratched and then found in a body bag by paramedics, Liv dumps Major (her fiance), drifts apart from Peyton (her roommate), and takes a job at the medical examiner’s office to quietly get her brains. Her undead secret is soon discovered by her resident pathologist boss, Ravi (Rahul Kohli), a failed CDC scientist who now focuses on finding a cure for the zombie virus.

The ingestion of new brains would also give Liv clues to solve murders, which paired her with Det. Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin), who (until he found out about Liv’s secret) thought she was psychic. Ravi played foil to Liv’s zanier and more comedic brain-personas. He was her comedic but good-hearted co-worker, who indulged and protected Liv in her strangest transformations (except, you know, when she had PhD scientist brain—Ravi was not amused).

Brains, Baddies, and Emotional Goodbyes

Show villains are what make great shows, and iZombie got a delicious piece of work in Blaine DeBeers (David Anders), the silver-tongued slacker that scratched Liv at the party. Blaine quickly transforms from a sleazy former drug dealer selling tainted Utopium to an actual brain trafficker, working to establish an underground clientele of wealthy zombie clients that depend on his “charitable” services to continue to eat brains. With his aristocratic sneer, daddy issues, and penchant for disgusting one-liners, Blaine was hard to look away from.

Supporting characters on the show were one of iZombie’s strongest points as well, with an embarrassment of quirky, kooky talent to choose from. Jessica Harmon as FBI agent Dale Brazzio eventually became Clive’s new detective partner, while Bryce Hodgson’s hilarious season one guest role as Scott E. was so popular with viewers and the writers, that he was later given a whole new character, twin brother Don E., to play in recurring and major supporting role as Blaine’s beloved sidekick.

There were a lot of great guest roles on iZombie, from Daran Norris as sleazy weatherman Johnny Frost to Steven Weber’s fast-talking Max Rager CEO Vaughan Du Clark and his very own zombie daughter, Rita (Leanne Lapp).

The series’ last two seasons are serviceable, but weaker overall. It was set up with a healthy core fanbase in season four that it lost some momentum in its final year. Its series finale was also divisive and confusing to fans—too fast and rushed with no true emotional payoff. Despite that, what iZombie was, was rare. It was off-beat, ridiculous, and magical, in the way that nothing else like it on TV could be at the time.

The humor was strong, the puns were on-point (Major Lillywhite, The Scratching Post, and Ravi’s dog “Minor”), and every recipe of brain-stew cuisine served was grossly delightful (braised brussel sprouts with bacon stir-fry to hush puppies to protein shakes).

Liv’s best brain in “Flight of the Living Dead”

The episode, “Flight of the Living Dead,” is one of my personal favorite iZombie brain episodes. The one Liv eats is her former sorority sister Holly (Tasya Teles), who dies when her skydiving “accident” goes horribly wrong. Holly’s free-spirited past-self energizes Liv to break out of her shell a bit more and is the catalyst for one of Liv’s more important emotional transitions—just one of many indications that iZombie was, at heart, a show about reconnecting with your humanity when all the odds are against you.

There was gore, yes. There was zombies, of course. There was a steady diet of murder and crime solving, but it was the heart that made iZombie such a fun and at times touching show.