We sat down with Aaron B. Koontz, co-creator and co-showrunner (with Luke Boyce) of the new SyFy channel hit Revival to hear about the thrills and challenges of working in the supernatural horror genre.
Based on the comic book Revival by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton, the show takes place in rural Wisconsin where one miraculous day the recently deceased suddenly rise from their graves, earning them the name “revivers.” The twist here is that the “revivers” aren’t typical zombies with rotting flesh, looking to eat brains. Instead, they have simply come back to life and appear just as they did before they died.
Shocked and frightened, the town is up in arms, demanding answers from local authorities. But the town sheriff, Wayne Cypress (David James Elliot), and his oldest daughter Dana (Melanie Scrofano), a cop, haven’t the slightest idea what is happening. Dana investigates, but a growing rift between her and her sheriff father adds to the town’s problems. Meanwhile, Dana’s younger sister M (Romy Weltman), must adjust to her new life as a reviver, while trying to keep the truth from their overbearing dad.
The show leans more into noir crime and family drama than blood and gore which creates characters that are quirky but relatable and scenarios that keep you wanting to solve the mystery. Aaron describes it as a mix of Mare of Easttown and Fargo, adding that, “Revival isn’t really dealing with death, our show’s dealing with life.”
Years in the Making
Aaron says his creative partner Luke Boyce had gotten the rights to the comic book years ago, and was struggling to make it into a cohesive movie. “Luke said, ‘Look, I’ve been trying to push this boulder up the hill for a long time, I don’t know what to do anymore with it, I’m kind of stuck.’ So, I said, ‘I’ll take a look at it.’”
But when Aaron read the first issue of Revival, he didn’t see a movie. He saw a TV show.
“I was like, this just feels like a pilot,” Aaron says. “It feels cinematic, but there’s so many characters, I don’t want to distill them and get caught trying to squeeze exposition into one moment. I want to live in these characters, breathe through these characters.”
Luke liked where he was going but was concerned because Aaron hadn’t done television before. In the end, it was Aaron’s relationships and ambition that convinced not only Luke to give him a shot, but the creators of the comic as well.
“They said, ‘Yeah, we trust you,’ and they gave me the rights. Then I went out and sold the show. I made the requirement that I was going to be a showrunner, and then I brought Luke on.”
Building a Genre Pilot Around a Family
The premise of undead characters in a small town teases big genre possibilities, but considering the show’s very limited budget, Aaron anchored his pilot in something smaller and more intimate: the Cypress family, specifically the relationship between sisters Dana and M.
“The sisters are the heart of everything,” he says. “There’s an age gap that allows the older sister to be protective, but that protection can also be suffocating. You love someone, but you can’t stand them at times. That’s what family is about.”
Aaron says he mined his own family history and the experiences of his writers to deepen the dynamic. M’s brittle bone disease, car accident, and opioid addiction are additions not found in the comic but drawn from real life. Those struggles give weight to the fact that M’s murdered under the watch of both her sister and her father. “They feel like they failed her. So then they go into overprotective mode, and swing the pendulum too far the other way,” he says.
One of Aaron’s favorite moments in the entire season is a quiet car ride between Dana and M in the pilot. “I deliberately waited until the end of production to shoot it so Melanie and Romy [Dana and M] could build a real bond. You can see Romy pining for her sister’s love, and just as they’re about to reconcile, the story takes off.”
Crafting an Opening That Hooks the Audience
Aaron sold the show based on a pitch and show bible, but writing the pilot was a “long process” of trying to find the right way in.
“The tease is not just about the plot. It’s about understanding our characters and establishing a POV. I need to know who I’m with,” he says.
The show opens in a morgue with body bags starting to wriggle and sit up. It’s grotesque but also hilarious. Then there’s an image (taken from the comic) where a body is put into an incinerator only to “revive” just as he catches on fire. The scene is fresh and funny and totally on genre, but Aaron says he couldn’t just introduce the premise of the show. He had to introduce the Cypress family as well.
“The scene ends with this quirky character, Randy (Graeme Barrett), saying, ‘This isn’t my fault.’ Then we cut to Wayne saying, ‘Well, it sure as hell isn’t my fault.’ In ten seconds, you know Wayne, you know he’s in a fight with his daughter, and you know their dynamic. And then you’re off to the cemetery for the big genre turn.”
This is perhaps one of the best cold opens in TV history if you love humor mixed with horror. Aaron says the humor was very intentional. “I don’t really want to make dark, depressing stuff right now. I’ve got a couple movies that will do that [he’s a producer on the upcoming films Shelby Oaks and Blood Shine], but as a show, I want the audience to leave feeling excited and refreshed for the next episode, and not kind of like a punch in the gut, if you will.”
Staying Focused in a World of (Good) Temptations
One of the biggest challenges was deciding what not to include from the sprawling 47 issue comic series. “There are so many wild, fun things in the books and as a genre guy, it’s tempting to just go there. But I had to keep pulling back to the Cypress family, that was our anchor,” he says.
Production realities also demanded adaptability. “There were times we’d lose a location and I’d have to rewrite the scene during lunch. You just have to trust your instincts and know your characters so well you can pivot on the fly,” he says.
Advice for Writing Your Own TV Pilot
For writers building their own genre pilots, Aaron stresses the importance of combining a “high-concept idea with interesting characters,” and nailing the first five pages.
“I want to feel the world. But I also want to know your style of writing. Make sure your opening gives me a sense of who the show is about, not just what the premise is.”
Tone, he adds, is just as crucial as plot. “Don’t be afraid to play with tone. Once I embraced my natural voice, quirky humor mixed with genre, the show clicked into place.”
Ultimately, Aaron says, write the show you’d want to watch. “This was the show Luke [Boyce] and I wanted to make. If we liked it, maybe other people would. And judging by the fact people showed up at Comic-Con dressed as our characters and have tattoos, I think it worked.”
Revival is currently airing on SyFy and streaming on Peacock.