‘The Purge’ Creator Offers New Details About TV Series

Coming to theaters later this year is The First Purge, a prequel to the popular franchise that kicked off in 2013. There’s even more mayhem in store for fans of the saga, as a TV series will expand the mythology of the universe even further, exploring the dystopia outside of the one annual event of violence. The series’ creator, James DeMonaco, shed some light on the new series and promised audiences will get plenty of Purge goodness that they’ve come to expect from the franchise.

“I’d say it’s 70, 65 percent Purge Night and then 30 percent flashback,” DeMonaco revealed to Entertainment Weekly. “We follow four what-seem-to-be separate storylines of people going out on the evening and experiencing the Purge. The real estate of the 10 hours of the TV allows us to use flashback, where we flashback out of the Purge world, into the regular lives, the non-Purge days, of this future America. We get to see who these people are when it’s not Purge Night and the events that led them to where they are on the particular Purge night that we are following. I think it’s a great device.”

In the series, America’s government has implemented an annual event in which all violent crimes are legal. This 12-hour window is meant to not only allow citizens to tap into their bloodlust that they restrain the rest of the year, but also serves as a means of culling the population, as the poorer members of society can’t afford the supplies to protect themselves.

Understandably, the previous three films have focused mainly on the annual event, with this new TV series allowing the creators new opportunities.

“The real estate of TV lets us truly analyze why anyone would resort to violence on Purge Night. So, it’s a slower burn,” the filmmaker pointed out. “Whereas the movies are kind of a punch in the face — you know, these big events — I think the TV show, with the real estate of it, allows us to truly analyze why anyone would pick up a gun or a knife to solve a problem. We really get to examine the night, and the intricacies of the evening, and the nuances of the evening, and the different kinds of people who are out on the streets in a way that I just couldn’t do in the movies.”

The Purge TV series could debut on SYFY later this year. The First Purge hits theaters on July 4th.

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[H/T Entertainment Weekly]