‘The Purge’ Trailer: USA/Syfy Series Asks “What Is More American Than The Purge?” — Comic-Con

“What is America?” begins a new trailer USA/Syfy’s The Purge series. “America is, we’ve been told, the land of the free, so tell me then, what is more American than The Purge?” The trailer was unveiled during the show’s panel Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con, which featured producer Jason Blum, Purge creator James DeMonaco, director Anthony Hemingway, producer Brad Fuller, showrunner Tom Kelly, the film’s star Lex Scott Davis and series stars Amanda Warren, Gabriel Chavarria and Fiona Dourif.

The new trailer expands on a version released in June. The series, which takes place between the first and second films, is set in an altered America ruled by a totalitarian political party, the series follows several seemingly unrelated characters living in a small city. As the clock winds down, each character is forced to reckon with their past as they discover how far they will go to survive the night.

DeMonaco oversees the series which will be an entirely new chapter in America’s 12 hours of annual lawlessness.

“Time is the biggest factor on a very practical level. We had 10 hours to explore things we couldn’t even attempt to do in the movie,” DeMonaco said about the television adaptation. “That gives us the real estate to get into characters more and use a flashback structure to go off purge. Here we go back five years before the purge, 3 months before the purge, 2 days before the purge. So we’ll see how this society exists within the purge landscape.”

“It allows us to go deeper into the world and explore beyond the one night.”

Adding to that, Kelly expounded that the 10 hours allows deeper into the franchises “cautionary tale.” ” As violent as it is, we really want this to be an anti-violent message…it was fun to jump into it” and “dig down on these themes.”

Speaking of violence, the producers touched on their approach in handling this delicate issue given that it’s the central premise of the franchise. “We’re not into gore. We think gore will start sensationalizing violence,” said DeMonaco. “Depicting the violence is important. It always about depicting it in a way that’s very terrifying so that it doesn’t fall into a place that where it’s gratuitous or not making it into something that is cool.”

The series hails from franchise creator DeMonaco, Blumhouse Television, the TV divisions of the movies’ producer Blumhouse Prods. and Universal Cable Productions.

The Purge is written and executive produced by DeMonaco and led by Jason Blum. Additionally, the entire team behind the blockbuster franchise ?are on board to executive produce: Michael Bay with Fuller and Andrew Form under the Platinum Dunes banner and Sébastien K. Lemercier. Kelly serves as executive producer/showrunner of the series. Hemingway will direct and executive produce the premiere episode.

The Purge premiere will simulcast on USA Network and Syfy on Tuesday, September 4 at 10/9c.

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