In no small part, thanks to The Walking Dead, the zombie genre got a gigantic shot of life in the 2010s, paving the way for a new golden age within the popular subgenre. One of the lowkey, most successful projects within this boom was Lionsgate’s feature adaptation of Warm Bodies, the romantic, quirky zombie novel by Isaac Marion. Given that the author has four books in the series, one might have imagined something else would have happened by now, right? A TV show was, at one point, in the works but, per the author’s account, seems to be currently stuck in a development hell of sorts.
Marion recently spoke with Syfy Wire in honor of the movie’s upcoming 10th anniversary this week. During the chat, he explained that, at one point, contracts were in place for a sequel. And, over time, that morphed into a TV show. Now? Things seem wildly uncertain.
“There was a time when it seemed like a sure thing, contracts were drawn up, etc., but for some reason, it keeps sliding around. Talks of a movie sequel morphed into a TV series, which was actually announced as ‘in development’ a couple of years ago, only to mysteriously go silent. I’m only peripherally involved at this point, so I don’t actually know what’s going on behind the scenes. It’s all a big tease for me. But they did option all four books for TV, so it’s still possible. To me, Warm Bodies is just the opening act of the story – it’s actually 18 percent of the total word count – so it would be a dream to see the rest of it on screen someday.”
The show was announced in 2019 when the movie’s director, Jonathan Levine, signed a first-look deal with Lionsgate. In the four years since, very little movement has seemingly taken place on that front. This, despite the fact that the 2013 flick earned $117 million at the box office against a $35 million budget, all against very favorable reviews. For those who may need a little refresher, the synopsis for the film reads as follows:
“After a zombie epidemic, R (a highly unusual zombie) encounters Julie (a human survivor), and rescues her from a zombie attack. Julie sees that R is different from the other zombies, and as the two form a special relationship in their struggle for survival, R becomes increasingly more human – setting off an exciting, romantic, and often comical chain of events that begins to transform the other zombies and maybe even the whole lifeless world.”
Nicholas Hoult (The Menu) and Teresa Palmer (Lights Out) starred in the first film. As for the TV show, there is plenty of source material to work with. Marion wrote four books total, with the series also including The New Hunger, The Burning World and The Living. At the very least, there’s no shortage of story for Levine – or someone else, for that matter – to mine for the small screen.
In the meantime, Warm Bodies is currently streaming on Peacock.
