Zombies are all the rage and still going strong, so if you’re looking for more in between installments of your favorite series, here are the best zombie series you can binge on Netflix.
What’s a zombie? Listen, I’ve heard of walkers. Freaks. Geeks. Weirdos. Runners. Biters. Infected. Resurrected. Deaddy bears. And so on. But me and the cast of The Walking Dead have NEVER heard of a “zombie.” I haven’t even heard the term used in one of the spinoff series! Maybe that’s one of those fancy European terms for walker that Daryll will no doubt hear once he gets to Paris. But in America, we ain’t never heard of no zombies.
But in these other series … I’m pretty sure they throw around “zombie” here and there. I guess it’s because they’re more cultured huh?
The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead is the prestige “zombie” drama series of the 21st century, even though the z-word is never spoken aloud. If you don’t know the plot of the series, you must be roommates with Patrick Star—living under a rock. But just in case you fit that bill, The Walking Dead is about a police officer named Rick Grimes who wakes up in a hospital bed after the world has ended … and the dead now outnumber the living. He has to fight his way back to his beloved family, and then rise to the occasion and lead a ragtag group of survivors to safety … all the while growing more steadily, gloriously unhinged.
Brand New Cherry Flavor
If you want a Brand New Zombie Flavor, this limited series is for you! While Brand New Cherry Flavor’s plot doesn’t center around zombies, there are certainly characters with zombie-esque characteristics. The plot of the show centers around an aspiring filmmaker who journeys to L.A. in the 1990s in order to carry out a supernatural revenge quest.
Many of the characters of the series become cursed by witchcraft, which turns them into zombies of the magic practitioners. One such zombie’s responsibility is collecting poor li’l supernatural kittens vomited up by the protagonist (long story) and delivering them to a witch! While these zombies don’t appear to be “traditional,” they are actually the most traditional sort of zombie, as zombies were originally people who were cursed to do the bidding of others by powerful magic.
The Santa Clarita Diet
More zombies in California! But unlike Brand New Cherry Flavor, which is totally gross and unsettling, these zombies are played for laughs! The Santa Clarita Diet is about two well-to-do real estate agents whose world is turned upside down after one of them turns into a zombie. While Sheila the realtor retains her cognitive abilities and (thankfully) doesn’t start decomposing, she begins to experience an insatiable craving for human flesh. Thankfully, there’s plenty of victims—I mean, people—flocking to sunny Santa Clarita for Shelia to meet … and eat.
iZombie
Another zomedy! After a medical student turns into one of the living dead, she decides to use her powers for good and fight crime! How? By doing what those ol’ zombos do best: eating brains! When the student eats the brains of the recently deceased, she is able to access some of their memories, allowing her to solve their murders! She just has to keep the source of her detective skills a secret … for ethical reasons.
Black Summer
For years, The Walking Dead bore the crown of the Most Depraved Zombie Show on TV. However, after The Walking Dead’s unfortunate last few seasons, Black Summer decided to restore the genre to its former gory. After a mother is separated from her daughter during the height of summer (and a zombie apocalypse), she and a ragtag group of survivors must trek across America in order to find their loved ones.
The Kingdom
Perhaps the most original series on this list, The Kingdom is set during the Joseon Dynasty in South Korea. After the King of Joseon falls ill to a mysterious (zombie) illness, his son, Crown Prince Lee Chang, is barred from seeing his father. Lee Chang begins to suspect that some political shenanigans are afoot and sets out on a quest to figure out the truth. As he journeys throughout the land, he finds that the kingdom is beset by hordes of raving, flesh-eating zombies who seem to only appear at night. Lee Chang has to fight off both the zombie hordes and scheming politicians in order to restore his father’s dynasty to its former glory.
All of Us Are Dead
Yay! More zombie K-drama! All of Us Are Dead is set in modern-day South Korea, where a deadly zombie outbreak has ravaged the country. A group of teenage survivors attempt to … well survive the apocalypse while trapped inside of their high school. But they don’t just have zombies to worry about! They also have to face an even greater threat: their own raging hormones.
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: The Battle of Unato
Disclaimer: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: The Battle of Unato is a direct sequel to one of the greatest zombie anime series ever made: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. In the post-industrial world of Kabaneri, a strange illness has infected people, transforming them into Kabane. What’s a Kabane? Like a zombie but so much worse. Kabane are basically your flesh-eating runner-type zombie, except their hearts need to be destroyed to kill them.
Easy, right? Just shoot them in the heart? Well it would be, if their hearts didn’t have a bulletproof iron shell surrounding them. Thankfully, the series protagonist—a handy train engineer—has rigged a railroad spike driver to his arm and uses it to pierce zombie hearts. So metal.
Glitch
The zombies in Glitch aren’t like other zombies … they’re actually just normal people! Normal people who died and then inexplicably came back to life! All around the world, dead people are reanimating for no good reason at all, baffling scientists and citizens alike. Many of these “zombies” return to their lives and loved ones … but it turns out that coping with the fact that your died and came back is a hard thing for anyone. The only brains these zombies need is one currently in therapy.
Daybreak
More zomedy! After a California town’s adult population is turned into zombie-like beings called “ghoulies” (there’s a new one for the Walking Dead survivors!), high school outcast Josh Wheeler sets out on a quest to look for his missing girlfriend. To do this, he’ll need to navigate the dangers of this new post-apocalyptic world, one where high school cliques like jocks and cheerleaders vie for territory and resources like warring nation-states.
(featured image: AMC)
