Back in 2011, there was talk of a possible Zombieland TV show in the works, but in case you hadn't noticed, it never came to fruition. There's an update on the potential project, as casting calls have reportedly gone out for the main characters, and there are a few interesting details about what Tallahassee, Columus, Whichita and Little Rock might be up to in this possible follow-up to the 2009 horror-comedy.
Given the success of The Walking Dead and factoring in continued interest in zombies and Shaun of the Dead-type comedies (see: Warm Bodies, headed into theaters next month), a Zombieland follow-up designed for the small screen doesn't seem like a terrible idea. In fact, for those of us who love stories that find the dark and twisted humor in grunting, shambling corpses, it sounds like a pretty great idea.
A little over a year ago, there was some talk about a Zombieland TV show, which would have the film writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick onboard and a goal to get the project ready for the 2012-2013 season. Obviously, things didn't work out on that front, but io9 shared an update this week, stating that casting calls just went out and they got ahold of some script pages that are being used for casting purposes, which give us a general idea of the story for the project.
If you're familiar with Zombieland, you know that the story follows (and is narrated by) Jesse Eisenberg's character Columbus, one of the survivors in a zombie apocalypse who lives by a set of rules to avoid getting eaten. He encounters Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a man on a mission to find the last Twinkie before they're all gone. Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin play Wichita and Little Rock, two conning sisters who form an unlikely friendship with the two guys.
From what io9 reports of the script, it sounds like Columbus and Wichita's romantic relationship would continue, though it seems like it's still new and maybe in uncertain territory. Wichita's continuing to look after Little Rock, and from the sound of it, she gets her conning ways from hr fathers (there's some backstory on Wichita's father). Tallahassee is described as "kind of a snarky weirdo" who offers advise and thinks he might have been put in the group's path to help them. There are also two office workers complaining about Starbucks and their iPhones as people outside get devoured by zombies.
io9 notes that the style of humor is similar to the film and it certainly sounds that way. It also seems like the characters are about on par with those in the movie, though that's something that could very well change depending on who they cast. When you consider how well known Eisenberg and Stone are now, the show might be better off casting people that are a little bit different from the originals, to avoid the awkward clash of trying to match them perfectly from movie to TV show, which could never happen. Same applies to Harrelson and Breslin obviously. But as a fan of the film, it'd be great to see similar, if not identical characters.
We'll have to see if there are any additional updates on this project. In the meantime, zombie-comedy on TV? Sign me up.
