George A. Romero, the legendary horror director behind the original Night of the Living Dead, is taking his talents to television. His Marvel-published comics series Empire of the Dead is becoming a TV series.
In a deal made during the Cannes Film Festival, Demarest secured TV rights for the series. The studio said that Romero will write the series and executive produce with Peter Grunwald, reports Entertainment Weekly. The co-executive producers include Sam Englebardt and William D. Johnson of Demarest.
“We’re very excited to team up with Demarest on a project we’ve loved from the beginning. The story has taken us to some new and unexpected places, and we can’t wait to bring it alive on screen,” Grunwald said in a statement.
As Marvel notes, the series is set in a New York years after a zombie plague has broken out. Even though Manhattan has already been quarantined, zombies still live in the city and there’s even a more terrorizing ancient predator roaming the streets.
It’s not clear when the series will ever reach the screen, since Demarest hasn’t made a deal with a distributor. But we can bet that it’s probably a little too dark for ABC.