Isaac Marion, who authored the paranormal zombie book Warm Bodies, has recently expressed his desire to see the long-gestating TV adaptation of the series come to life. The book was adapted into a film nearly a decade ago and plans for a sequel morphed into plans for a TV series adaptation, which has also not materialized.
Marion recently sat down for an interview with Syfy Wire to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of the original adaptation where the author discussed his inspiration for the book. According to Marion, the idea rose from thinking about what the daily lives of zombies look like. He revealed that he could relate to it and decided to use the premise to "explore my own existential crisis and imagine how I might crawl out of it."
Marion discussed the making of the film and how it felt to witness his stories come to life on the big screen. He adds that Lionsgate had initially made plans to develop a sequel, which then morphed into plans for a television series. Unfortunately, neither project materialized. The novelist, who also doubles as a musician, admitted that even though talks of a show had cooled down, he couldn’t say much on the topic as he's only minimally involved in its development. Nevertheless, he says that Lionsgate optioned all four books in the series and expressed his dream to see the rest of the books adapted for the screen.
The post-apocalyptic, zombie romance comedy film adaptation was a critical and commercial success with a 81% positive rating from critics and made $117 million at the global box office against a $35 million budget.
The film follows a zombie named R and his connection with a young human survivor Julie Grigo. The two eventually form a bond and develop a romantic relationship, which causes R to slowly return to life. Interestingly, R’s best friend, M, and other zombies also come back to life.
Warm Bodies is a four-book series that includes a prequel and two sequels. The last one came out in 2018. As Mario puts it, the Warm Bodies film makes up only 18% of the series' total word count. Hence, there's no shortage of source material for Lionsgate to adapt for a TV show and/or movie.
Speaking of the undead, HBO’s live-action adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us has renewed interest in the post-apocalyptic zombie genre. The show has garnered rave reviews and has also set a new viewership record on the platform en route to securing a second season. So, if there ever was a time to push ahead with a project in that genre like a Warm Bodies TV show, it's now.
