Day of the Dead Series on SYFY Scores Leprechaun Returns Director and Adds Cast

Syfy’s upcoming Day of the Dead television series has fleshed out its cast with five new members, Deadline reports. Keenan Tracey (Bates Motel), Daniel Doheny (Alex Strangelove), Natalie Malaika (Fractured), Morgan Holmstrom, and Kristy Dinsmore (Vikings) are joining the series based on the George A. Romero zombie movie (a series that some feel is unnecessary). Abbott Street Films and Cartel Entertainment are producing the series with Steven Kostanski set to direct its first four episodes and executive produce. Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas are the show’s writers and showrunners. Production is already ongoing in Vancouver, Canada, for the 10-episode series.

According to Syfy’s press release announcing the series, “Day of the Dead is the intense story of six strangers trying to survive the first 24 hours of an undead invasion. This ode to George A. Romero’s famous flesh-eaters reminds us that sometimes all it takes to bring people together is a horde of hungry zombies trying to rip them apart.”

Deadline has some actor-character breakdowns. They are as follows:

• Tracey will play Cam McDermott, a high school senior and son of a local police detective who spends his free time working odd jobs to get out of his small Pennsylvania hometown.
• Doheny will play Luke Bowman, the son of town mayor, Paula Bowman.
• Malaika will play Lauren Howell, a sarcastic assistant mortician at the local mortuary.
• Holmstrom will play Sarah Blackwood, former Special Forces now working on a fracking crew outside of town. She discovers a mysterious body which plunges her into the middle of a zombie invasion.
• Dinsmore will play Amy, a life coach and daughter of the town doctor. When the dead start to rise, she begins a transformation as she fights for survival.

From the original press release, “Founded in 2011 and run by partners Stan Spry, Jeff Holland, Evan Corday and Geoff Silverman, the Cartel is a feature film and television production, management and financing company representing top-tier showrunners, show creators, writers, directors, producers and production companies in film, TV and new media. The company has been involved in more than 50 movie and television productions since inception, including the hit series Creepshow for Shudder and the animated series Twelve Forever for Netflix. Cartel previously produced the series Ties That Bind for Up TV, and A Place in the Sun for Discovery, as well as several recent feature films, including Switched for Christmas, Christmas Connection, Love at the Shore, Sun Sand and Romance, Love at First Glance, and Wrong Nanny, to name a few. In 2013 the Cartel purchased and renovated Tamarind Lithography Studios, which is their Los Angeles headquarters, as well as a full-service production and post-production complex. The Cartel also has offices in London, England and New York, NY.”