Undead Wisconsinites invade the small screen in ‘Revival’

“Revival” is the latest mutation of made-for-TV zombie lore, first brought to life in Wisconsin-born Tim Seeley’s graphic novel series. 

Seeley told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that he and cocreator Mike Norton wanted their comics to branch out from the typical zombie apocalypse survival story and into something perhaps more interpersonal: “What would it be like to do an undead story about having to live with people that you’ve already said goodbye to?”

“Our story involves people who come back from the dead, but they seem, at least at first, to be completely themselves,” Seeley said. “But as the story unfolds, we see what caused this event to happen and what it did to the people.”

Of course, not every detail remained exactly the same as the comics. But according to Seeley, the story’s setting in Wausau was “untouchable.” 

Wisconsin does more for the story than provide a snowy backdrop. It informs the nuances found within the characters’ personalities and guides the choices they make, which ultimately guides the plot and sets the overall tone of the series. 

“My hometown in particular is such a slice of America,” Seeley said. “Politically it’s pretty purple, so that meant the characters could have different reactions to this [event] … and it has to be kind of funny because people in Wisconsin are funny.”

Seeley said he participated in production of the “Revival” TV adaptation from the very beginning. 

“That was a conscientious choice between Mike Norton and myself — that we would be involved the entire time,” Seeley said. “I’ve seen it in every version. I’ve read every script. I’ve seen the stuff that didn’t work. So it was a different process than I have had with other projects I’ve optioned for film or TV.”

Wausau viewers might recognize the location of several exterior shots, but the majority of filming took place in Canada. And as most of the cast is Canadian, Seeley said one of the major production decisions was about whether or not actors should use a classic Wisconsin accent. Ultimately they decided against it.

To Seeley, Canada’s proximity to Wisconsin helped both the filming and casting read as accurate to Wisconsin culture without engaging in stereotype. Seeley said many of the actors naturally sounded and looked like they could be from Wisconsin. 

“The northern Wisconsin accent is remarkably similar to lower Canada,” Seeley said. “Some people just had that accent. … For a lot of those actors, that was a chance just to talk like themselves.” 

Growing up 20 minutes outside of Wausau, Seeley remembers severe Wisconsin winters. Setting the story in the middle of winter contributed to a sense of authenticity — and added to the drama. 

“I wanted to deal with that sensation of cabin fever,” Seeley said. “The idea of being stuck in the house for the winter, which happened a lot, would make for a scarier and potentially more tense story.” 

What Seeley didn’t know when creating the first comics in 2012 was that seven years later, around March 2020, the feeling of cabin fever would resonate with everyone across the world due to the lockdowns during the height of COVID-19 — which threw Seeley’s plans for putting “Revival” on screen up in the air.

“We were originally going to make it as a movie,” Seeley said. “Right before we started filming, COVID came up and pretty much crushed that. So we started over and made a movie called “Revealer” instead with that [same] cast. We came back to [“Revival”] with a new vision after the pandemic, and that’s how we ended up with a TV show.”

Getting “Revival” on screen ultimately took nearly eight years, Seeley said. But even from the time when they were developing character designs for the comics, Seeley and Norton have shared a vision for the story.

“From the get go, I was working with Mike Norton, who is a longtime friend,” Seeley said. “I had front row seats watching the comic be created. I supplied sketches for some of the characters. I knew Mike would absolutely get what I was thinking in my head, and he did from the very beginning. In my head, I kind of saw it as a Mike Norton project anyway, so there wasn’t much surprise.”

But finally seeing their ideas translated from the page to the screen was full of surprises for Seeley. He said there was a lot he had to get used to, including the places and faces he’d visualized as one way for so long being completely different. 

“Not going to lie, that was super weird,” Seeley said. “It took me a while to be comfortable with some of that stuff. But they hired the right people. The casting was great. Seeing CM Punk walk out as a character I made up was a pretty shocking moment in my life, and to completely embody that total jerk was really awesome.”

Now, Seeley has shifted gears from writing comics about the undead to writing comics about the king of monsters itself: Godzilla.

“Wisconsin Today” did make the case for Godzilla to visit America’s Dairyland, citing The Creature That Ate Sheboygan. Unfortunately, for now, Godzilla is roaming elsewhere in the U.S. — but Seeley did offer hope.

“Sooner or later I have to have Godzilla stomp on everything,” Seeley said. “Maybe a little detour eventually.”