Horror and zombie fans rejoice as All of Us Are Dead has been confirmed for a second season. While they didn’t give any exact details on what’s to come but it does look like the challenge of balancing love, drama and zombies will be back. The first season was a big hit and it’s great to see more international shows get season renewals.
Here’s a video for the renewal:
Source: YouTube
A week after its release, All of Us Are Dead has hit a new milestone on Netflix.
The Korean zombie drama has hit the top spot on Netflix’s Top 10 list. This marks the second Korean drama to do so as Squid Game took over the streamer’s Top 10 for weeks after its release, quickly becoming its most-watched original series ever. With Squid Game and All of Us Are Dead, Korea is now the first country to place multiple non-English language series atop Netflix’s U.S. daily Top 10.
All of Us Are Dead tells the story of a zombie outbreak at a Korean high school. As the virus overtakes the city — and the school — the students find themselves desperately trying to survive the chaos. The series debuted on Netflix on Jan. 28th, taking exactly seven days to hit the top spot on Netflix’s Top 10. For comparison, that is three days behind Squid Game, which remains one of the streaming giant’s biggest titles to date.
As it stands, a second season has not yet been ordered, although the ending of Season 1 does suggest a second season will follow.
All of Us Are Dead is now streaming on Netflix. You can read our review here if you’re still unsure whether or not this zombie drama is worth a watch!
Source: Deadline.
Spoiler Warning: The below piece contains spoilers for the first season of All of Us Are Dead.
What would happen if we created a monster and then, unknowingly, nearly killed the rest of the world? That’s essentially the question at hand in Netflix’s All of Us Are Dead. After seeing his son be bullied for so long, Lee Byeong Chan decides to do something about it. However, while most parents would seek more traditional routes — talking to the principal or teaching the child to fight defensively — Byeong-cheol Kim‘s Chan takes things to a new extreme. He opts, instead, to create a new type of monster by injecting his son with a new virus he’s been working on. Little does he know, that very virus will nearly destroy Korea, all while killing the one person he so desperately tried to save.
It’s a horrifying concept that shows how far humans are willing to go in order to get what they want; essentially showcasing that families — namely children — are disposable. While the zombies are the focus of the series, it’s the humans that are truly the monsters of All of Us Are Dead. It is because of one man’s inability to be there for his son that a high school has become ground zero in a zombie attack. It is because of his choice that he has lost both his wife and son. More importantly, though, the choices throughout the series showcase how willing people are to kill those around them for the sake of safety.
We see this first among the students with bullying and sexual harassment/assault in the first couple of episodes. Then, as the outbreak continues to reach more of their fellow classmates, the students waste no time casually throw their classmates to the hordes in hopes of escaping. It becomes fight or flight and the strongest are the ones that’ll survive. Morality goes out the door the moment the undead take over. When it comes down to it, the staff seems to all but abandon the students in favor of surviving — with one or two exceptions along the way. Even the students soon find themselves warring, eager to stay alive and away from those that’ll do harm to them. In some instances, this may mean aiding another student in becoming a zombie, abandoning a friend for the sake of getting away or pretending not to hear cries for help in order to save yourself. There are plenty of screwed-up scenarios in All of Us Are Dead in which the humans are the true monsters, however, the worst comes closer to the midway point of the series.
After being trapped in the high school, unable to reach the outside world due to phones and internet being cut off, the students that have survived become desperate to find some sort of help. They’re tired of running from room to room, trying to barricade themselves from the dead. It only becomes harder when a new form of zombie is introduced — one that still retains its humanity. So, they take to the roof for safety, believing if they make an S.O.S sign, a helicopter will come save them. And it works, or at least, it seems like it’s working.
What the students don’t realize, however, is that the last student rescued by the soldiers — and the one who left them for dead — has just been attacked by one of the human-like zombies at the basecamp. This leads the people in charge to order a halt to the rescue mission. The safety that was so close within reach for the teens is immediately ripped from their grasps. They are left to die at the school as the helicopter flies off without them, despite promising to recuse them initially. It’s a screwed-up situation, one that is later made worse when the same people decide to bomb the high school after a short warning, barely allowing the kids to escape.
As terrifying as the zombies are in All of Us Are Dead, the series also shows how cruel humans can be as a whole. The zombies might’ve been created by one naïve and selfish man, but they ultimately helped to unveil the monsters in those still living.
When it comes to zombie shows, The Walking Dead has clearly dominated the small screen for the past twelve years. Even now, as it readies for its final season, the series has launched multiple spinoffs and will soon have a series of films to go along with it. Yet, as the zombie genre appears to be dying, Netflix’s All of Us Are Dead looks ready to change the conversation.
All of Us Are Dead is a series that focuses on a high school in Hyosan, Korea, Hyosan High School. After a mysterious virus is unleashed on the High School, the students — and the staff — must fight for survival. It’s easy to write a zombie story. It’s hard, however, to write one that manages to be exciting and retain a sense of humanity along the way. Netflix’s All of Us Are Dead proves there are still risks to be taken with the zombie genre. This isn’t merely a series of teens fighting the undead, it’s a series that ultimately focuses on the struggles of high school and growing up set against the backdrop of zombies. It tackles some of the most uncomfortable topics and doesn’t try to make viewers feel empathy for the terrible characters that inhabit the series.
The series begins with an unsettling occurrence between a few students on a rainy night. What takes place between the students will kick off a series of events that’ll change the world forever. It’s a strong way to kickstart the series, one that will leave viewers curious as to where it is going and how it’ll become the zombie-infested series the trailer promises. The series isn’t looking to hold viewers’ hands going into the chaos. The ugly truths of the world – bullying, parental abuse, sexual harassment/assault and depression – are all tackled hands-on; there is no sugarcoating any of it. This is what kids of the world endure, so All of Us Are Dead isn’t going to make it easier to watch – what these kids go through before the outbreak becomes vital to who they become when the world falls to the dead.
One of the most impressive bits of All of Us Are Dead is that it manages to balance a rather large ensemble cast successfully. Not only does the series have to establish this world for viewers, but it also needs to develop these characters for viewers. The fact that it manages to craft such rich stories for each character is fascinating. Yi-Hyun Cho as Nam-ra, Park Solomon as Lee Soo-hyuk, Ji-hu Park as On-jo and Chan-Young Yoon as Chung-san have some of the best character development. Among the impressive young cast, the four actors stand out, delivering some of the strongest performances within the series — especially Cho, whose Nam-ra becomes a favorite as the show progresses.
One of the minor setbacks for All of Us Are Dead is that each episode ends on a massive cliffhanger. If you’re looking for a show to slow binge, perhaps this isn’t the series for you. If you’re looking for a title to devour over the weekend, however, All of Us Are Dead is ripe for the picking. It’s well-crafted, with each episode immediately leading into the other, ensuring the story remains tight and avoids having to craft filler stories between. This allows the writers to tell what is essentially a twelve-hour film of the human’s desire to survive at all costs. There are sacrifices, there are brutal deaths and there are careless mistakes, all of which will elicit strong reactions from viewers. It’s just entertaining television that’ll entrance its viewers with ease.
Overall, All of Us Are Dead is a breath of fresh life in the zombie genre. It’s beautifully shot and features a stellar ensemble cast and a fantastic new take on zombies. It’s dark, it’s screwed-up, but it’s also a realistic approach to a fictional subject. For viewers looking for something new to binge, give this exciting zombie series a go. By the end, they’ll be desperate for a second season.
