Ben Wheatleyis making his return to TV to take on U.K. politics and the walking dead at the same time. TheHigh Risefilmmaker has been tapped by Britain’s Channel to write and direct a six-episode series titledGeneration Z,a darkly comedic horror satire that follows a zombie outbreak in a Brexit-divided nation.
Here’s a pretty expansive synopsis courtesy ofDeadline:
The future looks bleak for today’s youth – seemingly-endless austerity, astronomical house prices, insurmountable student debt, a political system which appears intent on destroying itself… And to add insult to injury, their hard-earned taxes are being eaten up by the old – smug, self-satisfied, small-minded, “Little Englander” pensioners whose remaining sole purpose in life is to make it a misery for everyone else.
In a small British town, tensions come to a head when a mysterious military convoy crashes outside the Sunnywise Retirement Home. The vehicles were carrying a toxic substance, which, as a result of the crash, leaks into the local environment and infects the residents of the retirement community. The symptoms of this infection quickly manifest – an overwhelming appetite for raw flesh. They’re old, they’re angry and they’re on the rampage. As the military scrambles to control the outbreak and keep everything out of the media spotlight, a group of regular teenagers find themselves in the thick of the battle against these flesh-eating baby boomers.
Wheatley’s no stranger to TV—he directed three chapters of the CBS All Access seriesStrange Angelthis year and helmed a fewDoctor Whoepisodes in 2014—but this marks his first original project for the small screen. The filmmaker’s wild action-comedy 2016Free FirewithBrie LarsonandArmie Hammeris one of the more clever movies of the last few years, so I’m pretty down to see what Wheatley can do with his eye on zombie-themed satire. (He’s currently working on an adaptation ofDaphne du Maurier’s Gothic classicRebeccafor Netflix.)
Seeing as howGeneration Zis headed to Channel 4 first you have to assume it’ll be a while before it lands in the states, assuming, of course, people don’t get mad without seeing it first andcancel it likeThe Hunt. Modern times!
