Truth be told, I've never been the world's biggest fan of Blumhouse's THE PURGE series. Nothing against the films by any means, I just haven't found myself buying into them just yet. But that said, I am looking forward to THE FIRST PURGE and the upcoming THE PURGE TV SERIES.
And speaking of the series, franchise creator James DeMonaco recently spoke with EW and dropped a few new hints about just how much "Purging" will be going down in the TV series, and just how much "flashing back" we'll be seeing. And it sounds like a healthy ratio to me.
James DeMonaco:
I’d say it’s 70, 65 percent Purge Night and then 30 percent flashback. We follow four what-seem-to-be separate storylines of people going out on the evening and experiencing the Purge. The real estate of the 10 hours of the TV allows us to use flashback, where we flashback out of the Purge world, into the regular lives, the non-Purge days, of this future America. We get to see who these people are when it’s not Purge Night and the events that led them to where they are on the particular Purge night that we are following.
I think it’s a great device. The real estate of TV lets us truly analyze why anyone would resort to violence on Purge Night. So, it’s a slower burn. Whereas the movies are kind of a punch in the face — you know, these big events — I think the TV show, with the real estate of it, allows us to truly analyze why anyone would pick up a gun or a knife to solve a problem. We really get to examine the night, and the intricacies of the evening, and the nuances of the evening, and the different kinds of people who are out on the streets in a way that I just couldn’t do in the movies.
He continues:
About five months ago, I would have said that [I was done with the Purge movies]. Then we started writing all these scripts for Purge TV, and I realized how many Purge stories could be told, and what it is a metaphor for, and realized, maybe not? I don’t know if I’ll direct any more but I do like still writing Purge, so I think maybe, maybe.
Are you excited to check out THE PURGE TV SERIES? Make sure to hit us up and let us know in the comments below or on social media!
The pilot episode is being directed by Anthony Hemingway and stars William Baldwin, Amanda Warren, Gabriel Chavarria, Jessica Garza, Colin Woodell, Lili Simmons, Hannah Anderson, and Lee Tergesen. Franchise creator James DeMonaco is executive producing the series with Blumhouse, Platinum Dunes, Sebastien K. Lemercier, and showrunner Thomas Kelly.
THE FIRST PURGE hits July 4th.