IZOMBIE: Rose McIver on the Big Ravi Twist

[Warning: this post contains spoilers for the IZOMBIE season premiere. Please watch that hour before you read this post.]

IZOMBIE ended its third season with one heck of a cliffhanger, as medical examiner Ravi (Rahul Koli) requested his zombie buddy Liv (Rose McIver) scratch him in an attempt to see if his vaccination against the zombie virus was successful.

The show’s writers teased out the cliffhanger resolution in premiere—and even then, the reveal is a bit complicated. See, Ravi lives most of his life as human, but thanks to the scratch, he’s now a part-time zombie. (Which also means he’ll occasionally be indulging in brains, like he did in the season premiere.)

Fans weren’t the only ones left wondering what the heck would happen to Ravi…though the actors weren’t clued in at first, either. “Rahul started calling [series creator] Rob Thomas the next day, nagging at him, ‘What is happening to me?'” McIver says with a laugh. “I remember the first meeting in the writers’ room [for season 4]; they told us they were planning on it being a new version of zombie-ism and it would flare up, like a case of the herpes. That was their example! So, Rahul was very entertained by that.”

After three seasons of exploring zombies, humans, and zombie-turned-human-turned-zombie-again, the part-time zombie is a new twist. Plus, “it’s a useful device to explore,” McIver says. “Ravi can still have relationships, but he can lean into the brain-eating. The world is a better place for it. Rahul absolutely nails it.”

For resident crime-solver Liv, who is used to being the top dog when it comes to piecing together cases via brains, her new partner-in-crime can be a mixed bag. “There’s a camaraderie around that, but also criticism: it’s her territory,” McIver explains. “She’s been doing it a long time; he’s stepping on her toes a little bit. It’s funny. But it enhances their relationship.”

Did you see the IZOMBIE twist coming?

IZOMBIE, Mondays, 9/8c, The CW

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