Black Summer (TV series)

***Black Summer*** is an American streaming television series created by Karl Schaefer and John Hyams. It is a spinoff of *Z Nation*. The first season, consisting of eight episodes, was released on Netflix on April 11, 2019. The series is produced by The Asylum, the same production company behind *Z Nation*, and is written and directed primarily by Hyams, with Abram Cox writing and directing additional episodes. Jaime King stars in the lead role as Rose, a mother who is separated from her daughter during the earliest and deadliest days of a zombie apocalypse. The series garnered moderate approval from critics. Many of the filming locations are around and within Calgary, Alberta.

In November 2019, Netflix renewed the series for an eight-episode second season, which was released on June 17, 2021.

## Plot

Six weeks after the start of the zombie apocalypse, Rose (Jaime King) is separated from her daughter, Anna, and she embarks on a harrowing journey to find her. Thrust alongside a small group of refugees in North America, she must brave a hostile new world and make brutal decisions during the most deadly summer of the apocalypse.

## Cast and characters

### Main

* Jaime King as Rose, a mother who is separated from her daughter during the earliest and deadliest days of a zombie apocalypse
* Justin Chu Cary as Julius James, a criminal who took the identity of "Spears", the name of the soldier he killed
* Christine Lee as Ooh "Sun" Kyungsun, a Korean woman who is looking for her missing mother
* Kelsey Flower as Lance (season 1; guest season 2), a young survivor with no family
* Sal Velez Jr as William Velez (season 1), a pole lineman who has a sister and children in Texas
* Erika Hau as Carmen (season 1), Manny's girlfriend
* Gwynyth Walsh as Barbara Watson (season 1), a woman who has survived without her husband and is not sure he is alive
* Mustafa Alabssi as Ryan (season 1), a deaf survivor
* Edsson Morales as Manny (season 1), Carmen's boyfriend
* Zoe Marlett as Anna (season 2; recurring season 1), Rose and Patrick's daughter

### Recurring

* Nyren B Evelyn as Earl (season 1), a mysterious survivor who saves Rose and Spears
* Stafford Perry as Phil (season 1), a social Darwinist travelling with Carmen and Manny
* Christian Fraser as Marvin (season 1), a man traveling with Carmen, Manny and Phil
* Nathaniel Arcand as Governale (season 1), a soldier
* Tom Carey as Bronk (season 1), a soldier
* Bobby Naderi as Ray Nazeri (season 2), a former police officer leading his own group
* Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz as Boone (season 2), a talkative man who knows the mountain area
* G. Michael Gray as Freddy (season 2), a man whose family encounters Rose and Anna
* Dakota Daulby as Sonny (season 2), Freddy's aggressive younger brother
* Brenda Robins as Freddy and Sonny's mother (season 2)
* Travis Friesen as Mark (season 2), a man in contact with a plane which drops supplies
* Kumiko Konishi as Rhonda (season 2), Mark’s wife
* Linda Kee as Sophie (season 2), a member of a group in conflict with Nazeri's group who later joins Nazeri
* Jesse Lipscombe as Mance (season 2), a member of Sophie's group
* Chantelle Han as Jase (season 2), a member of Sophie's group
* Elaine Yang as Natalie (season 2) a member of Sophie's group
* Duff Zayonce as Sam (season 2), a member of Nazeri's group who encounters Sophie's group
* Joe Perry as a member of Nazeri's group (season 2)
* Owen Crow Shoe as a member of Sophie's group (season 2)
* Andrew Misle, Cliff Liknes and John Dylan Louie (season 2) as members of another group which comes into conflict with Nazeri

### Guest

* Ty Olsson as Patrick ("Human Flow" season 1), Rose's husband and Anna's father
* Lonni Olson as Ben ("Human Flow" season 1), a man who meets Barbara on the road
* David Haysom as Spears ("Human Flow" season 1), a soldier
* Daniel Diemer as Luke ("The Cold" season 2), an acquaintance of Sophie who encounters Lance
* Bechir Sylvain as Braithwaite ("White Horse" season 2), a man who knew Spears before the apocalypse
* James Yi as The Pilot ("The Plane" season 2), the pilot of the plane which drops supplies

## Production

### Development

On July 19, 2018, it was reported that Netflix had given an 8-episode, straight-to-series order for a "spin-off" prequel series to Syfy's *Z Nation*, titled *Black Summer*. The series was created by *Z Nation* co-creator and executive producer Karl Schaefer alongside the flagship series' co-executive producer John Hyams. Schaefer and Hyams also serve as showrunners for the prequel series.

On November 20, 2019, the series was renewed for a second season consisting of eight episodes.

### Casting

Alongside the series' order in July 2018, Jaime King was confirmed to star in the lead role. On July 29, King announced via her Instagram account that Justin Chu Cary would portray a character named Spears. On August 7, Kelsey Flower revealed that he had joined the cast as Lance and described his character as "the guy that's terrible at the Apocalypse. You'd think he'd be the first to die." On August 16, Gwynyth Walsh and Christine Lee were reported to have joined the cast in undisclosed roles. On October 13, it was reported that deaf Syrian refugee Mustafa Alabssi had been cast as Ryan, a deaf character. Sal Velez, Jr. will also star in the series as William Velez. Erika Hau will have a recurring role in the series.

### Writing

At the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, Schaefer noted that "*Black Summer* is before the apocalypse got weird and was just scary." He said that the horror series is not intended to be the funny version of *The Walking Dead* that *Z Nation* is, but would instead be more of an "old-school" take on zombie lore. This was echoed by producer Jodi Binstock, who stated that the series is "not tongue-in-cheek, it's very very serious: it's as if the zombie apocalypse really happened in 2018 and explores what that would be for all of us."

As the series does not feature any of the characters from *Z Nation*, Binstock later distanced the series from the "spin-off" label, explaining that "*Black Summer* is referred to in *Z Nation* as the summer where everything went to hell, so that is where *Black Summer* picks up." Elaborating, Schaefer described the events of *Black Summer* as "the low point of the apocalypse" and established it as taking place "about four months into the apocalypse, [...] when 95% of the population dies over the course of the summer." Within that context, Hyams stated that the "essence" of the story is about a mother being separated from her daughter. "The story is: what would a mother do to find her child? And what we learn is that she would do anything." Hyams, who wrote the majority of the series' episodes, also said that the series would explore the idea of an American refugee crisis. Schaefer, Abram Cox, and Daniel Schaefer will also write episodes for the series.

Schaefer stated that the series is not going to be episodic, but will instead be an 8-hour "chunk" to work through. This was confirmed by Binstock, who added that *Black Summer* would employ "a completely different approach" than *Z Nation*, "in that it's much more like a chapter in a book. You don't necessarily do the cliffhangers on a commercial break – it's keeping you going so that you've got to binge it."

### Filming

Production for the first season had officially commenced by July 23, 2018 in and around Calgary, Alberta, with filming partially taking place at Queen Elizabeth High School, Stampede Park, McMahon Stadium and under the Calgary Tower. The series continued production in the smaller communities of Irricana, Beiseker and Cochrane before returning to Calgary in mid-to-late September. On September 26, it was reported that King had been hospitalized for three days due to injuries sustained while on set, with King simultaneously confirming that production for the series had wrapped. John Hyams directed the majority of the series' episodes. Abram Cox will also serve as a director on the series.

### Connection to *Z Nation*

The connection between *Black Summer* and its parent series takes a similar approach as the original relationship between *Fear the Walking Dead* and *The Walking Dead*, as there are no plans for any of the characters from *Z Nation* to appear in the companion prequel series. *Z Nation* actor DJ Qualls revealed at San Diego Comic-Con that the Syfy series takes place "quite a long time" after the events of *Black Summer*, making him feel that the cast is "too old" for a crossover to work. The series do share "most to all of [their] writing, directing, and producing staff" as well as a production company, The Asylum. The show's starring actress, Jaime King, has said that the two series have "nothing to do with" each other.

## Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 75% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "*Black Summer* has enough undead carnage and a sinewy pace to please zombie fans, but the series suffers from scant characterization and doesn't add much storytelling meat to the genre's gnawed-on bone." Horror writer Stephen King praised *Black Summer*, stating: "Just when you think there's no more scare left in zombies, THIS comes along. Existential hell in the suburbs, stripped to the bone." *The New York Times* wrote, “If Andrei Tarkovsky and John Carpenter had teamed up to direct a zombie show, it might have looked something like this formally daring Netflix series.” In April 2019, *Black Summer* was the most watched show on Netflix in the United Kingdom.

The second season has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 100% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10.