It’s everything you never knew you wanted: Veronica Mars with zombies.

Hypable got the chance to check out the iZombie panel at SDCC this weekend, and Rob Thomas’ anticipated new pilot didn’t disappoint. Here are seven reasons why you should get excited to check out iZombie this fall.

Rob Thomas

Rob Thomas is probably best known as the showrunner and creator of the indie darling turned Kickstarter-hit Veronica Mars. His penchant for turning out intelligent, well-written leading ladies is what got him the iZombie gig in the first place. The studio pitched the iZombie property to Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero with the full intention of getting back to the network’s old-school roots with a show centered around a strong, fascinating woman.

And from the moment the trailer starts rolling, this show feels like a Rob Thomas show. His signature witty, pop-culture influenced dialogue pops off the screen, and several Veronica Mars and Party Down alumni have already made guest appearances. So let’s just say if you’re feeling a little nostalgic for the loveable lying lawyer Cliff, you better turn on the weather channel.

A sassy heroine

No more taser needed; this badass chick has superhero zombie powers.

The best thing about our new leading lady might be the fact that she totally Hulks-out when provoked, but that’s not the only difference this little blonde has from our other favorite petite detective. Liv has a less misanthropic view of the world than Veronica does; she sees and appreciates the beauty of being human. She believes in love. She believes in the goodness of humanity.

And of course, her powers are pretty cool too. When Liv does eat a dead person’s brains, she picks up their talents and personality traits– for better and worse. She’s thrifty: to disguise her zombie condition, she pretends to be psychic. And her zombie powers are pretty epic to behold; they’re adrenaline-triggered, which means she doesn’t have the ability to turn them on and off. So yes, they do occasionally appear at the most inopportune moments.

At her heart though, Liv is just another woman in her twenties whose life of purpose has just been stripped of meaning. And though she’s lost her sense of self, she’s still a fighter. And yes, she can throw out a sassy quip with the best of them.

Quirky friends

Veronica Mars was beloved for it’s quirky set of supporting characters, and from the looks of iZombie, we’re in for a few treats. From a pragmatic detective to a kooky medical examiner who’s all too ready to embrace Liv’s zombie nature, her friends are sure to keep us clambering for next week.

Deliciously evil enemies

David Anders plays a drug-dealing evil zombie named Blaine DeBeers. Needless to say, he’s a little extravagant.

A sexy soulmate

Rob Thomas knows how to make a room swoon. And though Liv’s perfect fiance Major Lilywhite is a far cry from badboy heartthrob Logan Echolls, our hope in the sweet, gorgeous doctor was redeemed when Robert Buckley stole the SDCC panel spotlight with his hilarious and self-deprecating sense of humor.

Fun, ‘Veronica Mars’-style mysteries

iZombie is a TV drama with a sense of humor, and though it’s similar to Veronica Mars in tone, it promises to be more action-packed, like Warner Brothers’ beloved Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The show will be borrowing the comic book’s big ideas regarding zombies, but from the start, it’s already adding its own twists to make it a unique, stand-alone television show. Like in the comics, the zombie heroine eats human brains to survive and therefore receives the deceased person’s memories, but in the show she works in a morgue instead of as a gravedigger. And though in the comic books the heroine is motivated to solve the dead’s leftover problems, to make the television show’s story sustainable in a weekly format, she will be working to solve the mysteries of the deceased’s murders.

Epic season-long arcs

Everyone knows that the best part of Rob Thomas’ Veronica Mars wasn’t the weekly procedurals though, it was the horrifying, captivating season-long mysteries. And though Rob Thomas promised us that iZombie will be a straight zombie procedural in that no other monsters will be introduced (sorry were-terriers!), it is not a straight procedural in the traditional sense. Continuity is important on iZombie, and the zombie plotlines of Liv discovering why she contracted her disease and searching for the zombie cure will drive the story arcs for each season.

Are you excited for the debut of ‘iZombie’ this fall on the CW?

Source: hypable.com