Revival is quietly becoming a breakout horror series for 2025. Adapted from the cult Image Comics title by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton, the show takes a different approach to death and the afterlif–umm, ‘Revival’ life, mixing supernatural mystery with grounded campy family drama.
Like Wynonna Earp and Resident Alien, Revival is set in a seemingly ordinary small town – this time in rural Wausau, Wisconsin – where the dead have inexplicably returned to life. But these aren’t your traditional take on the zombie, but fully aware, resurrected individuals whose return has ignited chaos, fear, and moral uncertainty.
With its atmospheric tension and complex character development, the show has earned high critical acclaim, including a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a devoted fanbase from fans of the SYFY network. Especially, as the show is co-led by Wynona Earp herself (the show was one of SYFY’s most popular series), the phenomenal actress Melanie Scrofano.
In this interview, we sat with Revival co-creator Tim Seeley to talk about the journey from page to screen, how the creative team brought the comic’s tone to television, Tim’s thoughts on the series thus far, and why Episode 6 represents a turning point in the story.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
CHRISTIAN ANGELES: Throughout my journalism career, I’ve covered many SYFY Comic to TV adaptations. From Wynona Earp to Resident Alien, Deadly Class, and Happy! What I learned from interviewing creators from SYFY is that it takes a long time to adapt a comic book for TV.
So… now that Revival’s here, let me ask, how does it feel right now? What’s it been like going through that journey from comics to screen?
TIM SEELEY: I mean, for this one it was a different experience than I’ve had in previous projects, just because I’ve been in the transistance since the very beginning with Revival, spending a lot of time working with Luke Boyce, and eventually, Aaron Koontz on this project.
My co-creator, Mike Norton, and I really try to avoid all the well-known problems of Hollywood. How everything takes a million years. That it’s subject to so much corporate stuff. In this case, we wanted to just work with a small group of people. People who actually make stuff.
That led to a very different experience. Something much more hands-on. It also meant that it took a lot of time to make and that we were subject to stuff like a worldwide pandemic, among other things. It took 8 years working with Luke on this project to get it on screen, but also, there was just this firm belief from Luke and the other producers from the beginning that this was going to happen no matter what. There was this firm dedication to get this on film
ANGELES: The pandemic didn’t help whatsoever, but it was timely given the material is about an undead one. Now, Revival is showrun by Luke Boyce, whom you worked with on Revealer, along with Aaron B. Koontz, who produced a plethora of Horror movies. What’s it been like leaving the reins of Mike Norton and your baby in their hands?
SEELEY: I don’t stress about it. After this long 8-year period, I trust Luke implicitly. I also must stress that at this point, I believe he understands the Revival better than I do.
I worked on this comic book for about 5 years. 6 or so total. Luke has me beat. He worked on it every day for the past 8 years. Whatever version of Revival we were working on, he’s always been on the front lines the entire time. I just trust him. I know he knows what to do. I don’t have to worry about it. That probably saved me years of my life, not having to worry about it.
And now that people are seeing it, my suspicions were correct. Luke knew how to turn this into a TV show. He knew who to cast. The best format for it. Honestly, Mike and I are getting to reap the rewards for investing in and taking the chance we did on Luke Boyce.
ANGELES: And then some… 93 percent fresh! That’s the Revival Rotten Tomatoes score. Critics see something here. In your own words, what makes this so relatable? So special? Especially now, as we lived through a real-life pandemic…
SEELEY: I think it’s relatable to people on multiple levels. I think the strength of it that has always been at its core is that it’s about family. It’s about the very specific thing that you have to live with family. All of us understand that even more after having gone through the pandemic, being locked in a house with a small group of people for that long told us all a lot of things about ourselves and the people who choose to spend our time with, or didn’t. The family aspect is what draws people into it the most.
I also think it’s about a rural place in America. There are a lot of people who like to complain that everything takes place in cities, and that rural Americans don’t get their fair share. And while I don’t think that’s necessarily true, I do think we’ve supplied something that feels pretty honest. A look at a smaller midwestern town, with all the things that are good about it, and all the things that are not. I think people appreciate that kind of honesty. They can relate to it. They see themselves in the show.
For so many people in America, like myself, who come from a smaller place where you can’t stay because it doesn’t have a lot of opportunity, and your home refuses to invest in you, this show depicts what that life is sort of about. It’s what that really feels like, what you’re afraid of, and what you think could happen to the people you love after you leave. I think all of those things are what make Revival pretty relatable and certainly a big part of the overall arching story.
ANGELES: Very true. Now, you’re from Midwest Wisconsin, correct?
SEELEY: I’m from Wausau County! I lived in the town in the show, but just outside in a place called Ringle, Wisconsin. Wausau was the big town we’d come to get civilization in for ourselves.
ANGELES: Which is really cool to feature it in the show, might I add. Very grounded. Now, it wouldn’t be a SYFY show unless I talked about Wynona Earp herself, Melanie Scrofano, who plays Dana Cyprus in this series. She’s one of the best things about the network over the past decade, with a rabid fan base and a ton of loyal fans. What do you think of her thus far as Dana, along with what she’s brought to the character?
SEELEY: Oh, she’s incredible. She replaced whatever voice I’d given her in my mind with the character. Melanie has replaced that.
I don’t know if there’s a better version of Dana I could have cast for the character. Because Melanie isn’t just playing Dana very well, she’s also very similar. Melanie is funny. Has a dark sense of humor. She’s someone who’s very inquisitive and curious. All of that plays right on Dana’s face. When you watch the character, you can get it right away. I’ve seen the later episodes that the public hasn’t seen. And she really pulls it off.
ANGELES: I read in a past interview that you once said the creation of Martha Cyprus was based on reading “The Crow” comics when you were younger. Care to elaborate?
SEELEY: Yeah, well, sort of. When the crow came out, I was 16-17. I was, oddly enough, living in Wausau, Wisconsin, at the time, to be specific.
When all of a sudden, I experienced this thing that felt so authentic. Reading The Crow gave me a viewpoint I’d never seen before. This goth punk guy from Detroit. It blew my mind and was such an influence on me. It also introduced me to these rebel outsider comics. This brand of indie comics that was, as punk was to the music scene, as this was to mainstream comics.
This really stuck with me as it was when I was a kid. So one of the things I kept coming back to with it was the idea that it was such an urban story. As a kid, I had this idea of, “What would it be like to create a story that takes place in my hometown?” And here we are. As Em (Martha) certainly started as a Crow-based character.
ANGELES: Very cool. Now, Em in the comics is a fan favorite, and I really dig what Romy Weltman’s done with the portrayal. She brings a lot of depth as the show is doing a lot to give more context to the character. Thoughts on her as Martha so far?
SEELEY: Oh, she’s amazing. I love Romy. She looks incredible, but also is able to do both sides of Em. The sweet, timid girl, but also the unstoppable killing machine. How she manages to do both is amazing. I saw early stuff of hers when they started casting. The moment I saw her put on the hoodie, I was like, yep.
That’s her.
ANGELES: It looks amazing. But bringing it back to The Crow, there are some changes in Em’s character that feel like something straight out of The Crow: her substance abuse and, surprisingly, her brittle bone disease, now a focal point for her character. It certainly raises the stakes. Can you talk about how this change from the comics changes things?
SEELEY: It was such a great idea. It was one of those things I wished I had thought of. It gives Em a reason to be more proactive and do things, and I think part of it was partly because their timeline was somewhat more constrictive than ours.
We had 47 issues and 5 years to get to our stories. They obviously have 47 minutes a week.
Giving her brittle bone disease gives her a great reason to want to change. In this way, we see growth, in that she used to be very fragile, and now she’s not. It changes her mentality about how she approaches her own body, giving her a good excuse to be like, “Well then, let’s break it.”
ANGELES: So much broken! Now, in the pilot episode, I noticed two Easter Eggs. A mention of ‘The Seelys’ and even seeing Mike Norton’s name on a cemetery gravestone. Were there any other fun Easter Eggs that you care to share for this season?
SEELEY: Oh, there’s a bunch. The one that’s a direct plot point in this episode is the Hack/Slash comic that’s in there. And then, if you look at any of Cooper’s action figures, they’re all figures I made. All custom ones I made for the show. They include Local Man. Dracula Man from my Superbeast Comic. All action figures are characters from my comics over the years.
ANGELES: I love it.
SEELEY: So did the kid who plays Cooper in the show (Hudson Wurster). He loved his Dracula Man figure so much that they let him keep it.
ANGELES: Aww. That’s sweet!
Alright, now for tonight’s big question. Not to spoil things for the fans, but I like how stretched out the series is regarding adapting particular plot points and reveals. The pacing is different. Made more for TV, though there are elements I know fans will be super excited to see by the second half of the season, that the ghosts finally making their debut. Thoughts? And also, what’s the key difference in pacing for comics versus TV?
SEELEY: Regarding pacing, in comics, there’s a more condensed time. 22 pages of comics are a lot different than 47 minutes of TV. Part of it is that we in comics have to have a big surprise or something interesting or intriguing to keep you reading, essentially every 20 minutes.
The way we pace the comic. The way we reveal the Creeps, which are the ghost figures we see in today’s episode, who could be ghosts or aliens, but if you read the comic, you know what they are, there’s a reason the show waited until now for the reveal. In the comic, we had to approach it differently. More mysterious. More creepy. In a way, they kind of look like Angels. Visual stuff we could do with them.
Whereas, in the TV show, we have a special effects budget. We’ve got a limited amount of willingness for the audience to necessarily accept that we have crazy monsters in the show, especially in those first few episodes. I think the way they revealed it works better for the TV show. I know when I got to episode 6, and I got to that scene, my wife and I were cheering that scene, “Fuck Yes!” When you finally get to see them. Especially, as the designs are awesome by Steven Kostanski, whom I previously worked with on Deathstalker.
Just getting to see all of that come together was amazing. Hopefully, when people watch… well, I wish I could see the reaction of normal human beings in the house when they get to see that scene and go, “WTF is that?”
ANGELES: It’s honestly the biggest moment of the show thus far, I think. Speaking of which, death is a common theme in a lot of your work in horror. Tell us about its importance in Revival, as the series is an exploration of what death means to people.
SEELEY: I think I’ve always been sort of obsessed with the idea of dying. I’m not religious, so I don’t have any sort of beliefs that after this, our souls go somewhere. I just think we die, we die. I think, in part, dealing with that and the absolute existential terror that brings, sort of gives me a different take on how to use it in stories.
I think to myself, death is always final. There’s a way to deal with something like Revival, which is really about living. How to deal with people, and how do you deal with losing them, and how would that change if they came back? Would you deal with the act even if you had already accepted their loss? Do you have regrets, and if so, does it change now that they’re back? There’s some part of people when someone dies, there’s relief, almost to some degree.
Also, if you are a religious person, and someone comes back, are they torn away from heaven or hell? All these things that I think, I wouldn’t have that experience, but I think, other people would. I’d love to explore all the ways people would explore dealing with Death in their own way, versus how I’d deal with it in mine.
ANGELES: I do like that about your work, honestly, and how you play around with it. It’s something we need to address more in society. Which is why I really liked 28 Years Later, you seen it yet?
SEELEY: I want to! But I can’t go to the theatre because I have a five-year-old. I will see Superman, but yeah, I’d love to see it eventually.
I do see the problems with the idea of death as “Going to a better place,” as I think that it allows people to be shitty. Be terrible. Maybe because they think there’s something better coming for them. I do believe if you thought this was it, you’d go out trying to make life better for everyone around you, instead of like, trying to follow some rule book and be pious and search for power.
When you’re not religious, you’re not looking for power. You’re looking for satisfaction in your life and for those people around you.
ANGELES: Wise words, dude. Alright, final question. Pretend I’m an idiot and know nothing about anything–
SEELEY: Done.
ANGELES: But I sure do love to binge-watch a ton of TV. In a few short words, tell me why I should watch Revival every week?
SEELEY: It’s not like anything else. It’s going to be a mystery. It’s a horror story. It’s funny. It’s dark. It’s weird. It’s a whole bunch of ideas merged onto something you haven’t seen on Television before!
ANGELES: Awesome. Sold. End interview. Thank you, Tim.
Revival airs on Thursday on SYFY at 10 pm EST. You can also stream it on Peacock one week after the episodes air on TV.
SDCC COVERAGE SPONSORED BY MAD CAVE
