Fans of The Purge are in for a stellar year, as The First Purge will hit theaters this summer and the dystopic concept will head to the small screen in a The Purge TV series. You can watch the first teaser for the TV series above before it debuts on USA on September 4th at 10 pm ET.
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.
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The first three films in the franchise depicted how the annual Purge Night unfolded, delivering audiences a variety of horrifying scenarios of survival. The length of the 10-episode TV series will allow much more time to explore how this world functions other nights of the year, with franchise creator James DeMonaco detailing what fans can expect from the series.
“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.”
The longer-form storytelling will also allow the series to explore new corners of the franchise to enrich the overall mythology.
“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.”
Tune in to the series premiere of The Purge on USA on September 4th at 10 pm ET.
Will you be tuning in to the new series? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!
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