George Romero's Empire of the Dead to be a TV Series

Zombies have come back in a big way in the past few years, thanks largely to AMC's series The Walking Dead and CW show iZombie, both shows originated as comic books . But before any of that, there was one man responsible for bringing the very idea of the modern zombie into mainstream consciousness-- George Romero, the legendary director who gave us Night of the Living Dead way back in 1968.

Variety reports that Romero is back in the zombie game. This time he'll try his hand writing for the small screen, turning the 15-issue Marvel comic Empire of the Dead into a TV series.

This big news comes straight from the Cannes Film Festival, with Demarest Films producing the project.

The official synopsis of Empire of the Dead's firs issue reads--

"Welcome to New York City years after the undead plague has erupted—but just because Manhattan has been quarantined, don't think that everyone inside is safe! Not only do flesh-eaters roam within Manhattan, but there's another ancient predator about to take a bite out of the Big Apple!"

I'm a bit on the fence about this news. On one hand, creatures of the week like zombies (admittedly, it's been far more than a week) have a tendency to get old after a particular saturation point. It's what happened to vampires after all these novels and movies about vampires came out, and it's what's happening to dragons. Game of Thrones manages to avoid the cliché by keeping dragon appearances minimal, but the inevitable audience backlash lurks there. And now with movies and TV shows about zombies come to flood our screens, I'm wary of another undead voice adding to the cacophony.

On the other hand, this is George freaking Romero, arguably the father of the zombie genre. How can anyone not be excited about that!