Black Summer (season 1)
# Black Summer (season 1)

The first season of the American post-apocalyptic drama series Black Summer was released by Netflix on April 11, 2019, with 8 episodes. The series is produced by The Asylum, the same production company behind Z Nation, is written and directed primarily by John Hyams, and featured 9 starring roles, most notably being Jaime King in the lead role as Rose, a mother who is separated from her daughter during the earliest and most deadly days of a zombie apocalypse. Other stars in the season include Justin Chu Cary & Gwynyth Walsh.

On November 20, 2019, the series was renewed for a second season consisting of eight episodes.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | "Human Flow" | John Hyams | Karl Schaefer & John Hyams | April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11) |
| At the onset of the zombie apocalypse, soldiers evacuate people from a suburb to a stadium. Rose, her husband Patrick, and their daughter Anna attempt to evacuate, but only Anna gets on the truck before a flesh wound is found on Patrick. He and another survivor, Sun, are turned away. The trucks leave with Anna, and Patrick later turns. A uniformed soldier bearing the name Spears shoots a zombified Patrick, saving Rose. Ryan, a deaf individual, attempts to help a dying woman, but is pulled away by Sun. Barbara, a woman driving to the stadium, is forced out of her van by a man named Ben until another man named William intervenes. Meanwhile, the dying woman reanimates and begins attacking people. She attacks and eats a man, causing his partner Lance to flee. Spears is revealed to have killed and stolen the clothes of the real Spears, a soldier assigned to guard him. The characters reach a government checkpoint that becomes overrun by civilians, and Sun and Ryan are separated. Sun breaks through the checkpoint and flees ahead of the crowd, which breaches the checkpoint shortly after. Escaping, Sun reaches the van, where she and William get in the van with Barbara and drive away. Other refugees follow the van, leaving behind Rose, Spears, Lance, and Ryan. ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Drive" | John Hyams | John Hyams | April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11) |
| Sun, Barbara, and William attempt to travel to the stadium, but encounter resistance from both the living and the dead. They introduce themselves, but end up being chased by a pick-up truck, which they believe wants their fuel. After the truck attempts to run them off the road, both vehicles crash into a stopped semitrailer, killing Barbara and the pick-up truck driver, both of whom reanimate. The surviving occupants escape their vehicles and flee to an abandoned diner while being chased by the now zombified Barbara and pick-up truck driver. Meanwhile, Rose, Spears, Lance, and Ryan continue toward the stadium, witnessing the fates of other survivors along the way. ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Summer School" | Abram Cox | Abram Cox | April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11) |
| Rose, Spears, Ryan, and Lance find an abandoned school. Earl, a man wandering outside, does not stop them from entering. The next morning, Spears wants to leave but the others wish to help a child seen running inside the school. One by one, the group gets separated and Ryan is captured by a gang of boys that were hidden in the school. Spears finds Rose and they confront the boys, who have Ryan. Ryan is shot dead and turns, going after Rose and Spears with the kids as spectators. They are rescued by Earl and escape, leaving Lance behind. ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Alone" | Abram Cox | Abram Cox | April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11) |
| Lance wakes up after being knocked out and makes his way through the school. Unable to find his companions, he gets outside using the fire escape on the roof but injures himself on his last jump to the ground. Seeing him escape, the teenage boys execute a captive off the rooftop and allow him to reanimate. The reanimated zombie chases Lance through a business area including a grocery store and public library. A man ends up killing the zombie, but is bitten during the struggle. Lance thanks the man before killing him to keep him from turning. William and Sun are shown to be trapped in the diner with the passengers of the pick-up truck. ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Diner" | John Hyams | John Hyams | April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11) |
| William, Sun, Carmen, Manny, and Phil are trapped inside the diner while undead Barbara and Marvin, the pick-up truck driver, circle the building. Carmen and Manny tell Sun they know of an outpost with access to weapons which can help them get through downtown to the stadium. Phil and William's first plan to escape using a distraction by Sun while the remaining four attack the two zombies fails and leaves them more agitated than before, forcing everyone back inside. Phil grows desperate and convenes a meeting only with Carmen and Manny, emerging with a new ultimatum to William: sacrifice Sun to the zombies so the rest can escape. William defends Sun and convinces the others that Phil has been hiding a bite on his arm. Everyone turns on Phil and mercilessly beats him. Walking with Earl and Spears, Rose hallucinates her daughter. The trio arrives at the diner and sees the two zombies. As Spears prepares to unload his last two bullets, William drags out a heavily beaten Phil who is swarmed by the zombies. Spears shoots Barbara dead but misses Marvin. Earl, Spears, Sun, Carmen, and Manny kill undead Marvin while William finishes off Phil to prevent reanimation. The larger group sets off in search of weapons. ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Heist" | Abram Cox | Abram Cox | April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11) |
| Two soldiers observe the group arriving at a trap house. A guard stops Rose, Manny and Carmen. Rose is separated from the group, and left in the same room as an incapacitated Lance where she is eventually assaulted by a guard. Concurrently, Manny and Carmen overpower a guard and let the rest of the group inside, where they find a stash of firearms. Sun and Manny make their way into the air duct system. William disables the electricity, and Carmen stabs another guard in the neck to turn him undead. The guard reanimates and begins attacking the residents. Manny is killed by stray bullets, reanimates, and chases Sun. Spears saves Sun through the air ducts. When the power goes out, Rose takes the opportunity to escape with Lance. Once outside, they reunite with Earl. ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "The Tunnel" | John Hyams | Daniel Schaefer | April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11) |
| Amidst the chaos, the group reunites. Just as they are cornered by zombies, the two soldiers seen in the previous episode kill the zombies and offer to lead the survivors to the stadium. William reveals that he has suffered a leg injury, and is forced to limp. They stop to rest in a hall for the night. During the night, the soldiers lead Spears away through a tunnel. Rose follows and learns Spears' true identity. After discovering the soldiers' true motives and knowing the group's need for their weapons, she kills them and spares Spears, who stays with the group. In the morning, they arm themselves and head out. Earl is reunited with his dog and leaves the group behind without saying a word. ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "The Stadium" | John Hyams | John Hyams | April 11, 2019 (2019-04-11) |
| The group arrives on the outskirts of the stadium along with other survivors. Zombies follow and gunfire commences. Carmen is killed in the crossfire and reanimates. During the mayhem, Rose and William are separated from the group, the gathering is bombed as the survivors attempt to fend off the attackers. Lance is separated from Sun and Spears and flees from a pack of zombies. The others reunite, and Rose kills William, per his request, due to his leg injury leaving him unable to walk any longer. Entering the empty stadium with Sun and Spears, Rose sees her daughter who runs towards her. ||||||

## Cast and characters

### Starring

* Jaime King as Rose, a woman on the search for her daughter Anna, she also leads her own group of survivors attempting to get to the stadium
* Justin Chu Cary as Julius James, a criminal who takes the identity of military officer "Spears" and helps Rose find her daughter
* Christine Lee as Ooh "Sun" Kyungsun, a Korean woman who is searching for her mother
* Kelsey Flower as Lance, a clumsy lone survivor who is briefly a member of Rose’s group
* Sal Velez Jr as William Velez, a man who has/had children and a sister in Texas, he befriends Sun & Barbara and is briefly a member of Rose’s group
* Erika Hau as Carmen, Manny’s girlfriend
* Gwynyth Walsh as Barbara Watson, a Christian woman who befriends William & Sun
* Mustafa Alabssi as Ryan, a lone deaf survivor
* Edsson Morales as Manny, Carmen’s boyfriend

### Recurring

* Zoe Marlett as Anna, Rose’s daughter
* Nyren B Evelyn as Earl, a quiet survivor who is briefly a member of Rose’s group
* Stafford Perry as Phil, a man traveling with Carmen, Manny & Marvin
* Christian Fraser as Marvin, a man driving a pick-up-truck who causes a crash that kills himself and Barbara
* Nathaniel Arcand as Governale, a soldier who is after Julius for stealing the identity of Spears
* Tom Carey as Bronk, a soldier who is after Julius for stealing the identity of Spears

### Guest

* Ty Olsson as Patrick, Rose’s husband and Anna’s father
* Lonni Olson as Ben, a man who tries to steal Barbara’s car on the road
* David Haysom as Spears, a soldier who Spears kills

## Reception

The first season holds an approval rating of 78% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 6.14/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Black Summer has enough undead carnage and a sinewy pace to please zombie fans, but the series suffers from scant characterization and doesn't add much storytelling meat to the genre's gnawed-on bone." Horror writer Stephen King praised Black Summer, stating: "Just when you think there's no more scare left in zombies, THIS comes along. Existential hell in the suburbs, stripped to the bone." The New York Times wrote, “If Andrei Tarkovsky and John Carpenter had teamed up to direct a zombie show, it might have looked something like this formally daring Netflix series.” In April 2019, Black Summer was the most watched show on Netflix in the United Kingdom.

## Production

### Development

On July 19, 2018, it was reported that Netflix had given an 8-episode, straight-to-series order for a "spin-off" prequel series to Syfy's Z Nation, titled Black Summer. The series was created by Z Nation co-creator and executive producer Karl Schaefer alongside the flagship series' co-executive producer John Hyams. Schaefer and Hyams also serve as showrunners for the prequel series.

### Casting

Alongside the series' order in July 2018, Jaime King was confirmed to star in the lead role. On July 29, King announced via her Instagram account that Justin Chu Cary would portray a character named Spears. On August 7, Kelsey Flower revealed that he had joined the cast as Lance and described his character as "the guy that's terrible at the Apocalypse. You'd think he'd be the first to die." On August 16, Gwynyth Walsh and Christine Lee were reported to have joined the cast in undisclosed roles. On October 13, it was reported that deaf Syrian refugee Mustafa Alabssi had been cast as Ryan, a deaf character. Sal Velez, Jr. will also star in the series as William Velez. Erika Hau will have a recurring role in the series.

### Writing

At the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, Schaefer noted that "Black Summer is before the apocalypse got weird and was just scary." He said that the horror series is not intended to be the funny version of The Walking Dead that Z Nation is, but would instead be more of an "old-school" take on zombie lore. This was echoed by producer Jodi Binstock, who stated that the series is "not tongue-in-cheek, it's very very serious: it's as if the zombie apocalypse really happened in 2018 and explores what that would be for all of us."

As the series does not feature any of the characters from Z Nation, Binstock later distanced the series from the "spin-off" label, explaining that "Black Summer is referred to in Z Nation as the summer where everything went to hell, so that is where Black Summer picks up." Elaborating, Schaefer described the events of Black Summer as "the low point of the apocalypse" and established it as taking place "about four months into the apocalypse, [...] when 95% of the population dies over the course of the summer." Within that context, Hyams stated that the "essence" of the story is about a mother being separated from her daughter. "The story is: what would a mother do to find her child? And what we learn is that she would do anything." Hyams, who wrote the majority of the series' episodes, also said that the series would explore the idea of an American refugee crisis. Schaefer, Abram Cox, and Daniel Schaefer will also write episodes for the series.

Schaefer stated that the series is not going to be episodic, but will instead be an 8-hour "chunk" to work through. This was confirmed by Binstock, who added that Black Summer would employ "a completely different approach" than Z Nation, "in that it's much more like a chapter in a book. You don't necessarily do the cliffhangers on a commercial break – it's keeping you going so that you've got to binge it."

### Filming

Production for the first season had officially commenced by July 23, 2018 in and around Calgary, Alberta, with filming partially taking place at Queen Elizabeth High School, Stampede Park, McMahon Stadium and under the Calgary Tower. The series continued production in the smaller communities of Irricana, Beiseker and Cochrane before returning to Calgary in mid-to-late September. On September 26, it was reported that King had been hospitalized for three days due to injuries sustained while on set, with King simultaneously confirming that production for the series had wrapped. John Hyams directed the majority of the series' episodes. Abram Cox will also serve as a director on the series.

