Death is never easy. The loss of loved ones, no matter the circumstance, is always tragic. But what if those we lost returned years later, as if no time had passed. That is the premise of A&E’s The Returned, from co-showrunners Carlton Cuse and Raelle Tucker.
Adapted from the French series Les Revenants, the drama takes place at a small mountain town, recovering from the grief of losing their loved ones, and sets the stage for the dead’s return. Why are they back? What do they want? How is this happening?
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Cuse to discuss adapting the French series, the emotional impact of the dead returning and what the audience can expect from A&E's newest scripted series.
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Given that the French version of the series airs stateside on Sundance TV, what was it about Les Revenants that urged a remake?
It was a great premise and great premises are hard to come by. The perfect combination of a character-based show and a creepy, underlying genre mythology, which I loved. It just seemed to have a lot of potential as a series. It is one thing to remake a foreign show that has a ton of episodes. Our show makes a big divergent turn after six episodes of the French show and there are only eight episodes of the French show. While I think that the two shows start in the same place, they very quickly diverge and in actuality becomes very much their own thing. I like to think that the best model for me is the British and American versions of The Office. They started in the same place, but very quickly, especially with Steve Carell and the unique cast in the American show, became its own thing. It’s a very different thing than the British show. That’s how I see The Returned as well. It will very quickly have its own identity.
What's the biggest challenge in adapting the series?
The biggest challenge in any series is finding ways to make the audience really engage with the characters of the show. We have a great cast led by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jeremy Sisto. We want the audience to fall in love with these characters and go with them on this strange trippy weird journey.
How widespread is the return of the dead? Is it limited to this one small town?
That’s a good question and one the show itself will answer. Whether this is an isolated incident or if this is happening in more than one place is something the show will ultimately answer.
Would those that have returned be classified as human or is there something supernatural to them?
It’s funny because there is a word, revenants, which is the title of the original French show. It actually is a very specific word for someone who is back from the dead. It doesn’t have the same ghoulish connotation as the word zombie. It’s actually a word in English as well, but it’s more of an obscure word. I think I would use the word revenants. That’s what they are. They are people who are back from the dead. I wouldn’t classify them as zombies. It’s weird, but they’re not overtly monsters. In fact, whether they are good or bad is one of the things that the show speculates about.
ABC's Resurrection tackled the same premise of the dead returning to life. What is it about the dead returning that draws viewers in?
Death is the greatest mystery in all of our lives. It’s something all of us will inevitably face, but none of us know exactly what happens after we die. I think it is such a foundation mystery for each of us that I think we are drawn to the story to explore it because we’re all curious about it. I think that death in a lot of ways is the event that defines life itself. Our lives are circumscribed by death. What happens when you remove death from the final event in someone’s life? What are the consequences of that? I can see it having a real cool narrative potential.
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Watching the first four episodes, the adaptation seems near identical to French series. What was the decision behind keeping it so similar?
The decision was, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” There was so much that was good about the French show. Raelle Tucker and I tried to take all the best elements of the French show and put them in the American show. There was no reason to change things for the sake of changing things. If you really dig down and examine the shows, even right from the beginning there are quite a bit different. We changed up the backstories of the characters and provided a lot of additional details on some certain characters like Lucy (Leah Gibson) and Peter (Sisto). I think that even if you notice a lot of similarities, there is quite a bit of work embedded deep within the DNA of the American show, which is different when we send the show off on its own path.
The first four spend time with those affected by the loss of loved ones and their interactions with the dead that return. How much of the season will delve into the mystery of the resurrections?
For Raelle and I, we’re really just not interested in that. The show is not about why they are back from the dead. It’s not about autopsying the returned. It’s not about investigating the mystery of why they’re back. The show explores the tremendous personal consequences that arise when someone who is super important to you suddenly returns and wants to resume the life that they had. The problem is that life marches forward and there is no going back. There is no version of slotting into what things were like before. The thing that really attracted me about the French show, in that we maintained, is that it’s really about how this genre premise really stays character focused. We’re really not interested in exploring why this happened. We’re interested in exploring what the personal consequences are of these people being back from the dead.
Read more A&E's 'The Returned' Adaptation Ordered Straight to Series
After Lost you seem to have delved into the world of adaptations. How has it been juggling FX's The Strain, A&E's Bates Motel andThe Returned?
I think all three of them are very different. Bates Motel really borrows Norman Bates, has a new construct for Norma Bates, and borrows the house and the hotel. Otherwise it’s a wholly new story. I think even the construct of those characters, as created by Kerry Ehrin and myself, it’s a wildly different show than Psycho. I wouldn’t consider Bates Motel a very literal adaptation. In terms of adaptations, it’s not a close adaptation. The Strain, particularly right now we’re right in the middle of the second season, I would say about probably 75 percent-plus of the material in the second season of The Strain is wholly original. It follows some of the big benchmarks of the book, but the material is brand new.
The Returned was really the closest adaptation, but it really only follows the French show for about five or six episodes. The back five episodes of our show are really brand new. The reason I chose to do each of these projects was specific to the project. I felt that in each case they had the potential to be an interesting series or that I, as a writer, was really compelled to want to tell stories in these worlds. It’s weirdly coincidental that they all have kind of horror or thriller genre elements to them. Honestly, I don’t think of any of them in my own mind as being traditionally horror. I consider them all to be deeply psychological.
The other thing I really like doing as a writer is crossing genre. Each of these shows has cross genre elements. I consider The Strain to be an adventure show with horror elements. I consider The Returned to be a family drama with supernatural genre elements. I think Bates is really a nuanced character tragedy with sort of pulpy crime storytelling combined with it. I’m very attracted to and compelled by crossing genres in story telling.
You are juggling four shows — with USA Network's Colony recently ordered to series. How are you striking a balance between each of these series?
The only possible way that I am able to do it is because I have fantastic collaborators on each project. I am blessed to be working with some super talented people and I love my collaborators. The process of collaborating with them is the thing I enjoy the most about my job.
You have a first-look deal with A+E Studios. Do you have anything in mind that you would like to do next?
I’ve got four shows going right now. I’m focused on that right now. I haven’t turned my attention to what’s next. I’ve got a lot that’s keeping me busy right now.
You previously attempted The Sixth Gun adaptation in 2013 for NBC. With the wave of comic-to-TV shows now, would you ever think of revisiting it?
Sure, I mean I love stories. I’m agnostic about where they come from, whether it’s original ideas, movies, books, comic books or graphic novels. A good story is a good story. I think we see a lot of comic book and graphic novel adaptations because those forms have become much more part of popular culture in the last 20 years. There’s a lot more of them written and a lot of really good writing and a lot of good storytelling in those formats. It’s really natural that people want to adapt them for TV.
The Returned airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on A&E.
