Since its debut on January 28 on Netflix and with only 12 episodes, the story of We Are Dead has captured the attention of fans of the zombie horror genre and especially of the webtoon in which it is inspired.
The successful new series Somos Muertos ( All of Us Are Dead ) on the Netflix platform is based on a very popular 130-episode webtoon called "Now at our School", written by Joo Dong Keun and published between 2009 and 2011. It revolves around a story not suitable for children under 18, about a group of students struggling to survive after a zombie virus spreads like wildfire in their high school and then throughout the city.
Produced by Movie Monster and JTBC Studio for Netflix, We're Dead was written by Chun Sung Il, directed by Kim Nam Soo and Lee Jae Kyu, and stars a group of rising young South Korean stars including Yoon Chan Young, Park Ji Hoo, Choi Yi Hyun, Park Solomon, and Yoo In Soo, among others.
Considered a refreshing version within the narratives that orbit the universe of the zombie apocalypse and although most of the story that We Are Dead (All of Us Are Dead) shows on screen is faithfully adapted to the webtoon, when fans of the original story debuted They immediately noticed that the new production that has been available since January 28 in the Netflix options catalog presents several changes.
1. Character Appearance Changes
Although in essence the appearance of the five main characters of We Are Dead are teenagers, they are a bit different from what is seen in the webtoon "Now at our School". On screen we see Nam On Jo, Lee Chung San, Choi Nam Ra, Lee Soo Hyuk and Yang Dae Soo mainly, with a more stylized and modern look than the written work. The most noticeable difference at this point is related to Nam On Jo (Park Ji Hu), who in the webtoon proves to have a much stronger and more mature personality for his age.
2. Two of the main characters never fall in love
From the first episodes of We Are Dead, the most intelligent student and president of the class, Choi Nam Ra (Cho Yi Hyun) and Lee Su Hyeok (Park Solomon), begin a loving approach that although at first it is unilateral on the part of the boy, little little by little he begins to be reciprocated but to a lesser extent by Nam Ra. In the webtoon it never happens, both characters are just friends and the only love line seen on screen is related to Nam On Jo (Park Ji Hoo) and Lee Chung San (Yoon Chan Young).
3. The origin of the virus
While in both the series and webtoon, the one responsible for the spread of the zombie virus is the high school Science teacher, Lee Byeong Chan (Kim Byung Chul). The way it happens is different, in the written work it happens when the teacher goes fishing in the sea with his son, who suddenly turns into a zombie the next day. While in We Are Dead he is the product of an experiment that has gotten out of control, the product of his need to help the young man defend himself from bullying.
4. Some dramatic twists don't happen the same
In the webtoon version, Choi Nam Ra contracted the virus after injuring her eye while fighting zombies, and is taken to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention where she manages to hang out with her friends. Very different from what happens in We are Dead, the girl is bitten by the series villain Gwi Nam ( Yoo In Soo ) and lives far from her friends in the ruins of the bombed city. On the other hand, in the original, Professor Lee Byeong Chan commits suicide, unlike the adaptation in which he is bitten by several zombies while saving the detective who arrested him.