iZombie Meets Its Brain-Dealing Nemesis

iZombie
Diyah Pera/The CW
iZombie

There will be an undead reckoning on iZombie when morgue assistant Liv (Rose McIver) comes face-to-face with her zombie nemesis, Blaine DeBeers (David Anders) tonight. The former drug-peddling yuppie who turned Liv when he scratched her at the boat party is finding new life as a brain dealer on the black market. “As Liv is reeling and coming to terms with her newfound ­zombie-ism, Blaine is embracing it, using it to his advantage and loving it,” Anders says. “He doesn’t really have a moral compass.”

Anders is no stranger to genre shows, having appeared as villains on Alias, Heroes, The Vampire Diaries, and Once Upon a Time. But he relishes the opportunity to cut loose in his new role. “No one thought I was able to do comedy; they only thought I was able to twist my mustache and play a bad guy,” says the actor, who admits he’s channeling Pretty in Pink-era James Spader. “But [executive producer] Rob Thomas has instructed me to chew as much scenery as possible until no walls are standing. At the end of the day, we’re getting paid to pretend, and this is really pretending, as opposed to doing a procedural cop show.”

As for his zombie makeover, Anders notes it takes him about 90 minutes to fully transform for the role, and he had to dye his hair platinum blond once a month during filming. “It’s been wreaking a bit of havoc and become a poor life choice at this point, but it looks great on the character,” he says with a laugh. Anders is a bigger fan of the clothes, which give Blaine the air of Sex Pistols front man Johnny Rotten. “The boots, skinny pants, jackets, and chains are rocker chic,” Anders says. “It’s a pretty rad wardrobe, so there’s a little bit of swagger.”

And while tonight’s episode marks the first formal meeting between Blaine and Liv as zombies, the mischievous baddie has just begun to stir up trouble. “He forms a zombie henchmen army, and his endgame is to run the town,” Anders says. “But there will be more humanizing storylines for Blaine to flesh him out.”

iZombie, Tuesdays, 9/8c, The CW