'Black Summer' Star Jaime King Didn't Think it was a Horror Show

Netflix’s new zombie show Black Summer premiered just yesterday. So far reviews have been good, and it currently stands as fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 60%. The series follows Jaime King’s character Rose, who becomes separated from her daughter after zombies start walking the earth.

King recently explained to EW the strength of her character: “She is a midwestern woman, who is in love with her husband and has been with him for a long time, and loves her daughter, and finds herself in these extraordinary circumstances. Her child is ripped from her, torn away from her, and [she] will stop at nothing to go get her.”

Going further, King says that when she first read the script for Black Summer, “it did not read like a horror script. I did not think I was signing on to a horror show at all. It read like a very very intense refugee story. There’s no back story. So, when you’re reading the script, you’re like, What the f— is going on here? Then I get ripped away from my child. When I was reading that, that was right when people were being ripped from their children at the border. So, I was like, whoa, hold up! This is a huge story about this country. Like, if [this country] continued down the path its on now, what would that look like?”

She didn’t officially sign on to the project until after meeting the director John Hyams, who was also the co-creator of Syfy’s Z Nation with executive producer Karl Schaefer.

“We made this for fans of drama, and fans of horror, and fans of sci-fi, and for fans of all things.”

King states that she didn’t want it to be just “blood and a gore fest.” Hyams then explained that the series would take a subtle approach. “He was like, Well, if you’ve ever heard a car crash and turned to see it, [it’s going to be] like that. And that made perfect sense. It’s like, you hear that sound, and you go and look, and you see like a piece of it or a moment of it, right? I love that, because it’s very Hitchockian.”

Fans have widely speculated that Black Summer is a prequel to Z Nation. However, King says that was never discussed: “I mean, I had never been told that. Then, when it started coming out that it was a prequel and Z Nation fans were excited, I was like, Great, I’m glad that Z Nation fans are excited. I’ve never seen Z Nation but some of my friends love that show. But when we made it, that was never part of the discussion. To me, it’s Black Summer, and all I care about is that every fan loves it, because we made this for fans of drama, and fans of horror, and fans of sci-fi, and for fans of all things.”

Black Summer also stars Justin Chu Cary, Sal Velez Jr., and Christine Lee. Season one is currently available to stream on Netflix. There is no word if the series will be back for season two.

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