Great Premise, Great Characters… But did iZombie stick the Landing?

Zombies have been a little difficult to kill in pop culture, but the genre never felt more omnipresent than in the 2010s. The decade gave us The Walking Dead (2010–2022) on AMC and Netflix’s vampire-zombie mash-up Santa Clarita Diet (2017–2018), an offbeat horror-comedy that played more like The Drew Carey Show than The Walking Dead. Somewhere in between was iZombie, which ran on The CW for five seasons, combining a police procedural’s whodunnit approach with supernatural zaniness, undead melodrama, and a generous heaping of absurdist humor.

The series never quite had a blockbuster reach, but it developed a cult following for its nimble writing, earnest performances, and subversive creativity. Creator Rob Thomas had previously helmed the zombie blockbuster film 28 Days Later and, more famously, scripted the beloved cult phenomenon Veronica Mars (2004–2007). Thomas co-created the zombie medical mystery with his Veronica Mars writing partner, Diane Ruggiero-Wright. The series was an adaptation of the Vertigo comic book series of the same name, penned by Chris Roberson and illustrated by Michael Allred.

Like the comics, iZombie follows an undead crime-solving doctor, but it also departs from the source material in notable ways (including the addition of a helpful ghost and were-terrier to her support system). The original iZombie comic series was a supernatural take on friendship and identity. It followed the title character, Gwen Dylan, as she worked as a zombie gravedigger in Eugene, Oregon, and required a monthly brain to retain her memories and hold onto her sense of self. The iZombie series moves its heroine to Seattle and shakes things up again, sending gregarious medical student Liv Moore—hey, we know, we know—down a brain-eating, murder-solving path of her own.

In the show’s first season, Liv attends a party on a passing party boat that descends into homicidal chaos with the help of a potent new designer drug (Utopium) mixed with a caffeinated energy drink (Max Rager). After being scratched by a zombie during the melee and waking up inside her body bag at the hospital, Liv becomes undead and must find a new path in life. She breaks up with her human fiancé, Major (Robert Buckley), who’s equally suspicious and sad about her new existence, drifts from her wisecracking roommate, Peyton (Aly Michalka), and takes a job at the medical examiner’s office to give her the easiest access to brains.

Liv’s activities are soon discovered by her affable and eager-to-please boss and amateur sleuth, Ravi (Rahul Kohli). Ravi, a former CDC scientist, is as interested in human connection as he is in developing a cure for zombieism, and he dedicates his lab to Liv’s needs with a sometimes begrudging tolerance for her quirks. Ravi is livid, though, when he figures out that Liv gets her brains not just to hold onto her memories but to assume the hosts’ personalities and skills.

Liv can retain the memories of everyone whose brains she consumes, and this launches an inexhaustible parade of personalities that let McIver flex her considerable talents. There were so many superb brains on the show throughout its five seasons: the sassy dominatrix to the undercover hunk (Ben, played by Chris Dumont), the surly, curmudgeonly elder (Bernard), the smitten romance novelist (Beth), the charming magician (Matt), and the irrepressible pub trivia buff and hired killer (Gary).

Liv also uses their brain to help identify murder victims and make sense of the clues they left behind before they died, which means she’s often paired with Det. Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin), who—at least initially—believes she’s psychic. Ravi and Liv later form their great detective team to solve the mysteries using her brains, with Ravi providing the scientific and medical expertise to flesh out clues.

The brains and the bad guys

Every horror-mystery show needs a villain, and for iZombie, that meant slick slimeball Blaine DeBeers (David Anders)—the dismissive, mean-spirited, and incorrigibly bad zombie who had the nerve to scratch Liv at that doomed boat party. Blaine developed a sinister arc, working first as a small-time dealer in subpar Utopium and later as a nefarious brain trafficker with a high-class clientele of wealthy zombies dependent on his black-market connections. Charming in his own arrogantly misanthropic way, Blaine may have had daddy issues and an upper-class sneer, but he was impossible to look away from.

A host of side characters made a mark on iZombie, from Jessica Harmon’s soon-to-be detective-partner Dale Brazzio and Detective Clive’s later official partner, to Bryce Hodgson’s delightfully dorky turn as Scott E. in season one, which was so popular that the show found a way to bring the character back (as twin brother Don E.) and make him a loyal sidekick to Blaine. The guest list also boasted solid turns like Daran Norris as sleazy weatherman Johnny Frost, Christopher Cousins as Liv’s mad scientist grandpa Finch, and Steven Weber as the egomaniac Max Rager CEO Vaughan Du Clark and his zombie daughter, Rita (Leanne Lapp).

A few years later, one of the standout episodes for fans is “Flight of the Living Dead,” in which Liv eats the brain of free-spirited former sorority sister Holly (Tasya Teles), who winds up falling to her death in a skydiving “accident.” Holly’s death and personality galvanize Liv’s emotional journey as she processes the grief of a long-lost friend whose devil-may-care attitude gives her a new lease on life. As with so many episodes, it served as one of the many reminders of iZombie as a show about loss and getting your humanity back.

Dead doctors can have feelings, too.