Comic-Con: iZombie More Buffy Than Veronica Mars
iZombie executive producer and co-creator Rob Thomas told potential fans today at Comic-Con that he wasnt screening the CW pilot at the fanboy confab because its not ready yet. Were recasting some of the roles and have three more days to reshoot. We wanted to have a finished product that is ready to air.
As reported by Deadline on May 20, Alexandra Krosney in the iZombie pilot was being replaced. Krosney played Peyton, the best friend of do-gooder Seattle medical student-turned-zombie-tuned-PI Liv Moore (Rose McIver).
IZombie Comic Con Rose McIverInstead, Thomas and co-creator/EP Diane Ruggiero showed a lengthy clip, where Moore gets turned into a zombie, and winds up assisting the cops solve crimes in the morgue. As murdered folk are wheeled in, she eats their brains, gains their insight and bad tendencies, but all the while, shes just trying to deal with her zombie-ism. The clip played well with the crowd in Room BCEF, however, with Livs narration and the whole murder mystery aspect of the show, one cant help but think its The Veronica Mars Zombie Show.
Addressing the label, Thomas said, Diane and I have a similar aesthetic in our shows and our dramas have a sense of humor. So I think tonally, well live in that (Veronica Mars) world. iZombie is clearly dialed up with more action. Sometimes fans put Veronica and Buffy The Vampire Slayer in the same category and I would say that this is closer to Buffy.
Liv is less snarky than Veronica Mars, said Ruggiero.
Veronica has a misanthropic view of the world that Liv doesnt, added Thomas.
While the iZombie comic-book features were-terriers and vampires, the creators are keeping their series grounded in the human world with the sole focus being on zombies. Every week our zombie is in a police morgue which gives us a supply of people being murdered every week, said Thomas. While Veronica Mars always had one big over-arching mystery in a season, the zombie phenomenon takes the center focus for the first iZombie season. We learn that Liv is the lynchpin to preventing a zombie apocalypse.
Kristen Bell was the first actress Thomas saw out of 100 who auditioned for the role of Veronica Mars and he knew immediately she was Veronica. It was the opposite with the character of Liv, who wasnt cast until nearly the end of the audition process. New Zealand actress McIver , who was present at the panel, was the last of 100 who auditioned for the role.
I told Rob. Im getting a pool! This is going to be a hit, said Ruggiero.
Actor David Anders, who plays evil zombie Blaine, responded, I just want to make sure Im good and not being recast. Also present at the panel and not being recast were Rahul Kohli (Livs best friend cop doctor Dr. Ravi), Robert Buckley (Mayor Lilywhite) and Malcolm Goodwin (cop associate Clive).
