Curious though we were about The Purge world its other 364 days, we had to wonder about a TV series without its title threat. Thankfully, franchise boss James DeMonaco has purged his old comments, claiming SYFY and USA’s new Purge will indeed purge to its heart’s content.

DeMonaco previously stated that The Purge would take place after the title event had been well-established but before the prominence of Charlie Roan. We’d instead explore how the annual bloodbath impacts life and law enforcement during the rest of the year, but Entertainment Weekly now reveals the series will indeed feature a Purge, and use limited flashbacks to explore the lives of its characters outside of that violent night:

I’d say it’s 70, 65 percent Purge Night and then 30 percent flashback. We follow four what-seem-to-be separate storylines of people going out on the evening and experiencing the Purge. The real estate of the 10 hours of the TV allows us to use flashback, where we flashback out of the Purge world, into the regular lives, the non-Purge days, of this future America. We get to see who these people are when it’s not Purge Night and the events that led them to where they are on the particular Purge night that we are following. I think it’s a great device. The real estate of TV lets us truly analyze why anyone would resort to violence on Purge Night. So, it’s a slower burn. Whereas the movies are kind of a punch in the face — you know, these big events — I think the TV show, with the real estate of it, allows us to truly analyze why anyone would pick up a gun or a knife to solve a problem. We really get to examine the night, and the intricacies of the evening, and the nuances of the evening, and the different kinds of people who are out on the streets in a way that I just couldn’t do in the movies.

As to the cast, we know War for the Planet of the Apes star Gabriel Chavarria will take the role of a U.S. Marine looking to rescue his sister, while Six alum Jessica Garza plays someone tied to an apparent cult around The Purge. Additional cast includes William Baldwin, Lili Simmons, Amanda Warren, Colin Woodell, Hannah Anderson and Lee Tergesen. DeMonaco will write and executive produce the ten-episode series, with Thomas Kelly on board as executive producer and showrunner.

The drama will air on both USA and Syfy networks, so stay tuned for the latest.

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