iZombie is now three episodes deep into its fantastic second season and shows no signs of slowing down. While the show has maintained every member of its principal cast from the first season, several of them will go in bold new directions this year. We have seen the start of their respective journeys, although they are undoubtedly the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Executive producer Rob Thomas (not the guy from Matchbox Twenty) recently sat down with DC Comics’ official website to tease what’s to come.
The emergence of Max Rager executive Vaughn Du Clark, brilliantly played by Steven Weber, as this season’s big bad was the first thing that needed to be addressed. After all, his tainted product was partially responsible for the zombie plague.
“The world is getting bigger,” affirms Thomas. “There are more moving parts this season. Last year, Blaine was really the sole big bad. This year, Steven Weber is occupying a bunch of that space.”
Fans of Blaine (David Anders) need not fret, as there’s still lots more to come involving him. “I think Blaine still has some really fun, juicy stuff this year,” says Thomas. “Blaine is going to try to become the crime lord of Seattle, and we eventually meet the current crime lord of Seattle and he will be a significant role as well.”
It kind of sounds like Blaine is this show’s equivalent of Arrow’s Malcolm Merlyn. Both were the main villain for their respective show’s first season but stuck around to remain a thorn in the sides of the protagonists.
As for Major (Robert Buckley), he will continue to “hit rock bottom.” However, fans need not worry that iZombie will go the way of art house and see Major have an entirely depressing season. Thomas clues us in while dropping a bomb that I will discuss momentarily.
“He’s not just going to sit back and take it all season. You’re not going to watch 22 episodes of him forlornly going about this task. One of the fun things about Season 1 and what we pitched Robert Buckley when we got him to agree to do this was that there was going to be this journey and he would be a man of action. He’s been put in another pretty awful predicament, but part of the journey will be him trying to figure out a way out of it.”
I assume you caught the bit about 22 episodes. Season one consisted of 13 episodes and season two’s order was for the same. It was recently confirmed that The CW ordered five backup scripts, which made fans such as myself giddy at the prospect of a longer season. Thomas’ casual statement seems to support the likelihood that the network is willing to order the back nine.
When it comes to Liv (Rose McIver), she will continue to take on the traits of those whose brains she devours. Something else to keep an eye out for is that she prepares her brain cuisines in a manner that is in line with that specific person’s personality.
“That’s something we’re doing differently this year that we’re having a lot of fun with. If you look at it, it makes no sense in some ways because we’re having [the meals] be thematic, but she hasn’t actually eaten the brain yet. So it’s just a wink. Down the road, she’s on a degenerate gambler brain, and she makes clams casino, but with brains—brains casino. It’s a little joke for anyone who’s playing attention. We have fun in the writers room deciding on things like what a stalker would eat.”
The prospect of Liv as a degenerate gambler should make for entertaining television, and it sounds like Thomas and company are set to deal a winning hand.
iZombie airs Tuesdays at 9pm EST on The CW.
