SyFy Cancels ‘Z Nation’ After 5 Seasons

Looks like Z Nation fans will not be having a merry Christmas. Syfy cancelled the long-running zombie drama, according to producer David Michael Latt.

“We wanted to tell you face to face… that we were not renewed for Season 6,” Latt told fans in a Periscope video on Friday night. “We’re stopping at Season 5. We’re very sad, but we’re also really grateful with the opportunities that we had on the show.”

However, Latt reminded fans that this is not the “end of everything,” since Netflix is developing a prequel series called Black Summer, starring Jaime King (Hart of Dixie), notes TVLine.

In the new series, King will play a mother who is separated from her daughter and goes on a journey to find her with a group of other American refugees. The series takes place during the deadliest summer since the zombie apocalypse began. Netflix ordered an eight-episode debut season in July.

Without Z Nation, Syfy is left with only a handful of original shows. The network still has Happy!, Killjoys, Krypton, Wynonna Earp, George R.R. Martin’s Nightflyers and the anthology show Channel Zero. Deadly Class, a 1980s-set series about a teen who joins a high school for assassins, debuts on Wednesday, Jan. 16.

Z Nation will end its run with 68 episodes. The series was created by Karl Schaefer and Craig Engler. The main cast includes Kellita Smith, DJ Qualls, Keith Allan, Anastasia Baranova, Russell Hodgkinson, Nat Zang, Sydney Viengluang, Ramona Young and Grace Phipps. The story centers on a group of everyday heroes who try to take the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, three years after the apocalypse began.

At San Diego Comic-Con in July, Schaefer said Black Summer will be set “before the apocalypse got weird and was just scary.” He said unlike the main series, Black Summer will not be a comedic version of The Walking Dead, but a serious, scary old-school zombie show.

Z Nation fans were sad to learn about the main show’s demise, but some understood it had a good run.

“Anyways I’m salty as hell but thank you for the five awesome seasons,” one fan tweeted.

“OMG I am so so sad. WHYYYYYYY!!!!!!! I will be there for Black Summer 100%. I never imagined this would be my last episode ever of Z Nation. My heart is so broke,” added another.

“I am so saddened that the renewal did not happen. Wishing all the best to the Z Nation cast and crew,” another fan wrote.

The final episode of Z Nation airs on Friday, Dec. 28 at 9 p.m. ET. You can stream the series on Netflix.

Photo credit: Daniel Sawyer Schaefer/Go2 Z 4/Syfy