Revival is a 2025 horror/detective series that began on Syfy in 2025. It's adapted from the comic of the same name.
One day, in the small town of Wasau, Wisconsin, dozens of dead people suddenly rise from their graves with not only their intelligence and memories, but also the ability to heal from wounds that would kill a normal human. As the people of Wasau try to live normal lives in the midst of the strangeness, Deputy Dana Cypress (Melanie Scrofano) is saddled with responsibility over the "Revivers" whilst trying to figure out what happened and why, especially when she learns that her younger sister Em (Romy Weltman) is among them.
The series also stars David James Elliott as Dana and Em's father Sheriff Wayne Cypress, and Andy McQueen as CDC investigator Dr. Ibrahim Ramin.
Revival contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Em grows into one as a reviver, such as killing several armed criminals who'd kidnapped her in "Bloodlines" all by herself.
- Action Mom: Dana is a police officer who gets into regular scraps against criminals, and she has a young son as well.
- Adopted to the House: Dana allows Jordan Borchardt to stay with her and Cooper after Jordan's parents disown her for being Revived.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: In "Run Along Little Lamb", Dana gives Jordan a kiss on the forehead, as her own parents refuse to even touch her ever since she revived.
- Affectionate Nickname: Martha Cypress is called Em by both her father and sister.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Jordan Borchardt dissolves into light after escaping the Check Brothers' compound. A few episodes later, Jesse Blackdeer passes on after managing to recover his daughter's body and prove his innocence.
- Attack on the Heart: Em kills Lester by ripping his heart right from his chest.
- Bar Brawl: In "Keeping Up Appearances" Em picks a fight against a woman who's much bigger when she's inside a bar, with her being beaten severely. As she’s a Reviver though, her wounds quickly heal.
- Back from the Dead: In the first episode, dozens of people who died within a two-week period suddenly come back to life.
- Big Sister Instinct: Dana is quite protective toward her younger sister Em, who is more wayward and gets in danger a lot. Em chafes a bit at this, but it's more than justified as she's died and come back.
- Bindle Stick: Dana teases Em about where hers is since she ran away from home. Em has no idea what a bindle stick is.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Zig-zagged. Brent Gunderson initially seems to be a nice, slightly goofy man who's a harmless, honorable cop. Then it's revealed he's a cold-blooded multiple murderer who frames other people for crimes. Then it turns out that the reason he's doing this isn't for greed, but because he was desperate to pay off his mother's medical bills.
- Brainy Brunette: Dana, Em and Ibrahim are all very intelligent brunettes.
- The Bully: Cooper's entire 3rd grade class bullies Jordan, the one Reviver child among them. Cooper is the only one who shows her any sympathy.
- Came Back Strong: Some of the Revivers, such as Arlene, have Super-Strength compared with ordinary humans, whom they easily throw around.
- Came Back Wrong: Revivers are widely feared to be somehow corrupted by them coming Back from the Dead, including a theory they're really demons. Jordan's parents view her as not actually their daughter. Arlene at least does appear to have come back "off", with her aggression and homicidal impulses. However, it turns out this is a result of mercury poisoning before she died, and most revivers don't show this. Fear of it however convinces the state government to monitor revivers and put any violent ones in camps though.
- Cast from Hit Points: Em healing Dana depletes her own existing Healing Factor, leaving her wounded and weakened.
- Clear My Name: Jesse exonerates himself from the accusation of murdering his daughter Rose through recovering her body, revealing how she'd actually died.
- Contrived Coincidence: The guy that Dana hooks up with the night that lockdown is lifted just happens to be the new leader of the CDC team investigating the Revivers.
- Crime of Self-Defense: Em is labeled a murderer after killing the Check brothers, which was caught on video. No one in authority investigates beyond this to learn she was doing this defending herself or others against them, since she's a reviver so it fits the narrative that revivers are a deadly threat against ordinary citizens. Since both Em and the people she was rescuing were also revivers, it's probable they wouldn't care in any case due to their strong prejudice against them and violating all human rights which they would have otherwise.
- Cult: Blaine Abel forms one out of more reactionary members of the town, who share his belief that the Revivers are demons whose presence signifies the impending end of the world.
- Damsel out of Distress: Em breaks out all by herself when she's kidnapped in "Bloodlines".
- Delicate and Sickly: Em had a form of brittle bone disease before reviving, at which point her Healing Factor cured it. Her father and sister had long treated Em as fragile over her condition, something she disliked. She bonds with Nithiya Weimar, who has cancer, due to this. Both of them are beautiful.
- Disappeared Dad: The father of Dana's son Cooper. He is hinted to be a serial cheater Dana finally dumped for good, and isn't involved with his life.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- Revivers are registered and banned from businesses, mirroring how many feared minority groups have been treated. Those deemed dangerous also start being imprisoned without charge or trial, another common oppressive practice.
- In "Rend The Veil" Em is taken captive by Blaine and his cult, who chain her hands to a wooden x-shaped cross. They wrongly think she's a demon possessing Em’s body, and plan on gruesomely murdering her. Dana, her sister, tries to sway Blaine through revealing Em’s Healing Hands ability, directly comparing this with Jesus. She then proves this by healing their sister after Blaine shoots him. Blaine is briefly shaken, but still won't budge, proving just how twisted all his Christian beliefs really are when he's doing almost the exact same thing as Christians believe that Jesus endured.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: Dana is a deputy sheriff who's really fond of chocolate glazed donuts.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Em used drugs to cope with losing her mom.
- Elder Abuse: Prior to her death, Arlene Stankiewicz was being poisoned by her resentful son-in-law, Bob Dittman, who wanted her gone because his wife was spending all her time caring for Arlene.
- Emergency Authority: In "Too Many Secrets" the governor has the US military called into Wasau to "protect" people after Em's killed the Check brothers, and all revivers who they find are detained, with the prison holding them expanded.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas:
- The Check Brothers' crimes are all in pursuit of money to buy a house for their beloved mother.
- Gunderson agreed to frame Jesse Blackdeer for the murder of his daughter in exchange for enough money to pay off his mother's hospital bills.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Dr. Morel was fine with testing out drugs on Revivers For Science!, but is disturbed when General Cale orders her to torture Em and is even more troubled when she finds out that the Revivers are being transferred to a black site.
- Fair Cop: Dana is a police officer who’s quite pretty too.
- Fantastic Racism: Revivers are treated with increasing distrust by many people in Wasau who haven't revived from the dead, whether or not they're dangerous. Conspiracy theories toward them are being spread, and the government enacts draconian measures for containing the revivers.
- Fiery Cover-Up: Gunderson attempted to cover up his murder of Jesse by having his body quickly cremated afterward with an excuse. This didn't work however as it was Revival Day and so Jesse came Back from the Dead.
- First-Episode Twist: The end of the pilot reveals that Em is a Reviver.
- Frame-Up:
- Deputy McCray seems to be the sniper who murdered Aaron Weimar. Then it turns out he was framed.
- Jesse Blackdeer was framed for the murder of his own daughter Rose.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Ken Dillisch calls Wayne out for constantly bringing up his dead wife for sympathy, saying that Wayne was an asshole long before Patty died.
- The Fundamentalist: Blaine and his cult are fanatical Christians who hate Revivers, believing they're all demons possessing corpses whom they must destroy.
- Gaslighting: Aaron Weimar acted like Em must have imagined things when she confronts him holding his wedding ring, which she'd had after reviving from the dead, believing he was involved with her death. It turns out that she's right, and he got the ring replaced so Em wouldn't know.
- Genre Savvy: The residents of Wasau have seen zombie media, know what zombies are, and are aware of the Horror Hunger.
- Gilligan Cut: Dana's father points out that despite asking him not to load up her son on sugar, Dana will head immediately to get a chocolate glazed. She smirks, "you don't know me". Next shot is her biting into the aforementioned donut.
- Good Thing You Can Heal:
- In the first episode, Em gets stabbed through the chest, but discovers that she has a healing factor.
- Rhodey Rasch has taken advantage of his Reviver status to improve his punk-rock act, slicing his body open in front of the crowds so they can watch him regenerate.
- Hallucinations: Em has hallucinations of her mother Patty, who's dead, after being imprisoned. They seem to give her guilty conscience a voice.
- Healing Factor: The Revivers can heal from even what would be fatal wounds to ordinary humans.
- Healing Hands: In "Bloodlines" when desperate to save Dana Em puts her hand on her wounds, which starts to glow and heal her.
- Healing Spring: A creek near Wasau now holds a healing ability. Em, after being weakened from healing Dana so her Healing Factor doesn't work, is helped through drinking some water from there then restored fully by immersing herself in it.
- I Have Your Wife: In "Bloodlines" a criminal tries to force Dana into assisting him by kidnapping her son and her sister, who they'll kill if she doesn't. However, she refuses and immediately works to stop him.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In the first episode, Em takes a scythe through the chest. Much to Dana's shock, she survives and heals from the wound.
- Important Haircut: In "Run Along Little Lamb" Em cuts her hair short on the sides, giving herself a more punk look after learning Aaron was involved with her death before going to take revenge on him wearing a black coat with a fierce-looking animal on its hood, symbolizing her becoming more tough.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Nithiya Weimer has cancer, and occasionally goes into coughing fits.
- Inhumanable Alien Rights: Revivers, due to being Back from the Dead, seem stuck in a legal gray area. CDC officials use a prisoner serving life who's a reviver as a guinea pig to test snake venom on so they can see what affects them, and when Rahim objects that it's torturing a man he gets demoted from heading their research. Wisconsin, where all the revivers are, also enacts strict regulations that would likely be unconstitutional if they were ordinary never-dead citizens. This gets worse when those deemed violent start to be held without charge or trial. One comments morosely how he held more rights while previously a convict serving a life sentence.
- Interrupted Intimacy:
- Dana and Ibrahim were about to have sex in her car when they got interrupted during the pilot.
- Em and Rhodey are making out in "Run Along Little Lamb", with it seeming like they're also moving toward having sex, then she thinks of a clue about her case and goes off with him to investigate.
- Intrepid Reporter: May is a journalist who chafes at doing fluff pieces, investigating Em and Rose's murders while she's told not to, uncovering some evidence about both the cases.
- It's All My Fault: Em blames herself over her mom's death, as she was driving the car while they hit a deer, which killed her mom.
- Killer Cop: Deputy Gunderson is the sniper who murdered Aaron Weimar and then wounded Dana. Later it turns out that he'd murdered Jesse too.
- Literal Splitting Headache: In the first episode, the psychotic Arlene Stankiewicz is incapacitated when Em slices the top of her head off with a farmer's scythe.
- Man on Fire: Blaine sets Arlene, a reviver, on fire while denouncing her with religious language since he's convinced all revivers are demons.
- Mass Resurrection: The Revivers all came Back from the Dead the same time, which gets quickly dubbed Revival Day by the news media.
- Missing Mom:
- Dana and Em's mom died two years before the series starts. The two were both there in the car when she got into a fatal accident, which has left them both very affected.
- Rose's mom died in the past, prior to her own murder.
- Missing White Woman Syndrome: Rose Blackdeer was an indigenous young woman who'd gone missing. Her dad was very worried that the police would do next to nothing as a result, but Dana (a white cop who they were friends with) promised that wouldn't happen as she investigated. Unfortunately, one of her colleagues was corrupt and had thwarted this, framing Jesse as the murderer himself because he had been paid off by the real culprits.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: In "Too Many Secrets", Ken Dillisch alerts the military about Em being a Reviver in revenge for Wayne registering his wife as one.
- Neck Snap: Rhodey tries to apologize for his betraying Em. She breaks his neck for it. Being a reviver, he's healed in moments.
- No Listening Skills: It runs in the family.
- Dana's younger sister Martha is told by Dana to wait in the car; she doesn't.
- Dana's son Cooper is told to wait in the car by his grandfather; he doesn't.
- Off on a Technicality: One of the Revivers is a criminal who died of a stroke in prison before coming back. He tries to invoke this by contending that he served his life sentence and deserves to be left alone. Dana brings him in.
- Posthumous Character: Rose Blackdeer is dead by the time the series begins. Her murder and its impact on other characters are very important to the plot however, while Rose appears in flashbacks too.
- Practically Different Generations: Dana and Em. Flashbacks show Dana was in her mid to late teens when Em was born. Melanie Scrofano (Dana) and Romy Weltman (Em) are eighteen years apart. Since their mom's dead, Dana often acts protective toward Em in a maternal way, which annoys her.
- Prisoner Guinea Pig: Myles Miller, a reviver prisoner serving life, gets treated as a guinea pig by doctors from the CDC to test if snake venom will affect them. It turns out to slow down their Healing Factor. Rahim is horrified by this and orders it stopped. He gets overruled by his boss and replaced for objecting.
- Queer Establishing Moment: "A Rose and a Thorn" reveals that May Tao was carrying on a lesbian relationship with Rose Blackdeer before the latter's disappearance, and that Rose was trying to get out of Wasau so that they could live together away from her controlling father.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Multiple people on the show chew out Wayne over his aiding the round up against revivers until his daughter was shown to be one too.
- Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Subverted. It at first appears that the only thing guaranteed to stop a Reviver from coming back in to destroy the brain, as Arlene Stankiewicz is seemingly put down when the top of her head is sliced off, only for her to get back up when it eventually heals.
- The Reveal:
- Lester and Aaron were the ones who caused the Revival using a ritual at the old mill, a Place of Power that let them tap into another world.
- Nithiya Weimar is the one who has sent Em to the bridge, and also deliberately had become her therapist before too, apparently for manipulation.
- Jesse is the man who'd been burned in the crematorium, with his identity concealed by the scarring which resulted.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In "Bloodlines", Em annihilates the Check Brothers in order to rescue Cooper and Jordan.
- Sanity Slippage: Two examples:
- Mrs. Shawn's husband died before Revival Day. She later digs up his rotting corpse and brings it home, having convinced herself he'll come back from the dead too.
- Arlene Stankiewicz goes insane from her lost teeth repeatedly growing back in seconds and becomes murderously violent about it. It's later revealed that her son-in-law Bob was trying to poison her with mercury prior to her death, which may be a factor in why she's so violent since being revived.
- Secret-Keeper: Dana regarding Em's reviver status. Unfortunately Em's trying to solve her own murder is gradually turning it into an Open Secret as more and more people figure it out or deduce it from talking to Em.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Dana puts a dress, makeup and jewerly on in "Run Along Little Lamb" before her date with Ibrahim. He's clearly stunned by how good she looks, saying he half expected that she'd come dressed in her police uniform as usual. Dana is already pretty, but this makes her really shine.
- The Sheriff: Wayne Cypress is the Mountain Bay County Sheriff, the chief law enforcement officer in Wasau, Wisconsin where the story takes place. His daughter Dana serves as one of his deputies, and the department seems fairly small, so Wayne does a lot of field work himself. As a result of Revival Day, the town's quarantined and he struggles with handling all of it.
- Siblings in Crime: The Check brothers run a criminal organization together that includes human trafficking.
- Sibling Team: Sisters Dana and Martha "Em" Cypress increasingly work together after Em's reviving trying to bring down bad people.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Em, while becoming an Action Girl, takes to wearing a long dark coat with a fierce-looking animal head on its hood after wearing ordinary, lighter-colored clothing until then.
- Sinister Minister: Blaine is a Christian hate preacher who starts a cult stating that all revivers are demons who must be destroyed.
- Snuff Film: Wanda Peterson is electrocuted on film by Blaine as she's a reviver, whom he hates.
- String Theory: Dana has a big board with the evidence she's found in Em's case tacked up on it. She later learns May, a reporter, has one like this too. Both of them have arrows drawn pointing out the connections between things.
- Supporting the Monster Loved One: Dana investigates a couple with screaming and thrashing coming from their shed. Turns out the family matriarch is a Reviver and has been driven violently insane by her condition. The family has her chained up "for her own good".
- Teacher/Student Romance: Em was involved with her married professor prior to dying and then reviving later.
- Time Skip:
- The pilot "Don't Tell Dad" starts on Revival Day, when Mass Resurrection takes place, then cuts ahead one month forward.
- Midway through "Rend The Veil", it skips forward to 35 days later.
- Token Minority:
- Ken Dillisch, a black man and Wasau's mayor, along with the indigenous Jesse Blackdear, are the main two men of color in supporting roles.
- Minor characters Kay Mathurin and Nithiya Weimer are also women of color. They're portrayed by actresses of Latin American and South Asian descent respectively. Deputy Rogers, one of the cops, also was played by a mixed race actress of Caucasian and Bangladeshi parentage. Nella, a black woman, is the head of a revivers support group as well.
- General Cale is a black female US Army officer.
- Token Minority Couple: May, the sole East Asian female character, was involved with Rose, the only indigenous female character. They are thus far the only queer couple too.
- Took a Level in Badass: Em was a cautious young woman who avoided danger due to her brittle bone disease before she came Back from the Dead as a reviver with a Healing Factor. After this, she soon reinvents herself as a fierce Action Girl who takes on three bigger criminals, killing them all.
- Tranquilizer Dart: Em is put down with one at the end of "A Rose and a Thorn" due to Rhodey betraying her.
- Twofer Token Minority:
- Ibrahim Rahim, a CDC doctor in town investigating the Mass Resurrection, serves as the sole main character of color. Since this is a small town in Wisconsin, it isn't surprising. He's played by Andy McQueen, who's of Indian descent. He later also turns out to be a Muslim, and thus the only religious minority.
- May is the sole East Asian female character. It turns out that she and Rose, the only indigenous female character, were girlfriends.
- Vigilante Man: Em, after learning Aaron Weimar was involved with her death, goes to get revenge on him and doesn't inform the police about the evidence she uncovered. She strangles him after they meet before Em relents.
- Waking Up at the Morgue: The opening scene has everyone in the morgue, including the person being cremated, waking in the morgue and demanding to be let out/asking what's happening.
- Wham Shot: The last shot of Season 1 shows that Em is still alive, with Nithiya Weimar helping her.
- Whodunnit to Me?: Em is suspicious of the circumstances around her death, thinking they might have been foul play, but can’t remember and starts investigating when she’s revived.
- Whole Episode Flashback: "A Rose and a Thorn" consists almost entirely of showing Rose Blackdeer going missing, the subsequent investigation, and its aftermath, which all occurred prior to the series' beginning.
- With This Ring: Em confronts the married man she was having an affair with. She accusingly shows him the wedding band she coughed up upon reviving. He shows her he still has his wedding ring so it's not his, making her wonder whose ring got shoved down her throat.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Ibrahim asks Dana to keep information confidential. She says "Scout's Honor," but holds up the Vulcan salute.note Ibrahim: That... that's not what that means.