Syfy is entering the zombie universe with Z Nation, a 13-episode series from the Sharknado producers. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Syfy drama is described as an action-horror series that depicts the epic struggle to save humanity after a zombie apocalypse.

Chris Regina, the Syfy senior vb programming said in a statement that “Z Nation will take viewers where no zombie has gone before,’ Regina also added [The show adds] a sense of hope to the horror of the apocalypse — our everyday heroes take the fight to the zombies. It’ll be an epic journey unlike anything you’ve seen before.”

The series is set for three years after a mysterious zombie virus has gutted the country and centers on  a team of everyday heroes who have to transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood. Although the antibodies that he carries are the world’s last, he hides a dark secret that threatens them all.

The push for the genre comes as Syfy has made a priority to return to sci-fi/fantasy world once rules with Battlestar Galactica. Z Nation comes in a time when zombie dramas continue to be in demand after the succes of AMC’s The Walking Dead based on Robert Kirkman’s comic series with the same name.

Karl Schaefer was the co-EP of Eureka (Syfy) during the first season. His credits include Ghost Whisperer, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Eerie, Indiana, and Strange Luck. Schaefer is repped by APA and Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox & Light LLP.