The Dead Zone, also known as Stephen King's The Dead Zone (in the United States) is a science fiction drama television series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, who discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma. The show, credited as "based on characters" from Stephen King's 1979 novel, first aired in 2002, and was produced by Lionsgate Television and Paramount Network Television (later CBS Paramount Network Television) for the USA Network.
The show was originally commissioned for UPN, but the network dropped the show and it was picked up by USA. The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for its first five seasons. The sixth and last season was billed as "the season that changes everything" and production was moved to Montreal.
The Dead Zone was expected to be renewed for a seventh season, but due to financial concerns and fear of low ratings on the part of the producers, the series was cancelled on a major cliffhanger in December 2007 without a series finale. Syfy was rumored to possibly pick up the series after it was cancelled by USA, but it did not occur.
Contents
Plot
Small-town teacher Johnny Smith is involved in a car accident that leaves him comatose for about six years. After regaining consciousness, Johnny begins having visions of the past and future triggered by touching items or people; doctors attribute the visions to activity in a previously unused "dead zone" of his brain that is attempting to compensate for the impaired function of the portions injured in the accident. Johnny also learns that his fiancée, Sarah, gave birth to his son in the interim following the accident, but has since married another man.
With the help of Sarah, her husband (and town sheriff) Walt Bannerman, and physical therapist Bruce, Johnny begins using his abilities to help solve crimes. His attempts to do good, though, are complicated by intermittent visions of apocalyptic events brought about following the future election of congressional candidate Greg Stillson.
Cast and characters
Main
Anthony Michael Hall—John Robert "Johnny" Smith
Nicole de Boer—Sarah Anne Bracknell-Bannerman
John L. Adams—Bruce Lewis (seasons 1–5, main; guest star season 6)
Chris Bruno—Sheriff Walter T. "Walt" Bannerman (seasons 1–5, main; guest star season 6)
Connor Price—John "Johnny"/"JJ" Bannerman/Smith (season 6)
Recurring
David Ogden Stiers—Rev. Eugene "Gene" Purdy
Bill Mondy—Deputy Roscoe
Sean Patrick Flanery—Greg Stillson
Garry Chalk—James Stillson (seasons 1–4)
Spencer Achtymichuk—John "Johnny"/"JJ" Bannerman (seasons 1–5)
Kristen Dalton—Dana Bright (seasons 1–2, 5)
Frank Whaley—Christopher Wey (seasons 2–3)
Sarah Wynter—Rebecca Caldwell (seasons 1–4)
Martin Donovan—Malcolm Janus (seasons 4–6)
Laura Harris—Miranda Ellis (seasons 4–5)
Jennifer Finnigan—Alexandra "Alex" Sinclair (seasons 4 and 6)
Cara Buono—Acting Sheriff Anna Turner (season 6)
Grant L. Roberts—Big Man (season 6)
Characters
Johnny Smith (played by Anthony Michael Hall) is a retired schoolteacher who, as a result of a car accident, has developed psychic abilities. An encounter with a carnival trickster in the first episode (before the car accident) makes it clear Johnny already has some psychic abilities, but after the coma, their nature changes from intuition to visions, the latter requiring urgent action, even when personally inconvenient, whereas earlier, Johnny only uses his ability on a carnival trickster to amuse his fiancée Sarah. Whenever he undergoes one of his visions in his eye, Johnny has shown to be capable of manipulating the time localized around the vision, allowing him to stop, slow, reverse, or forward the time relative to himself within the vision, leaving him as the only one aware of his temporal alterations within it, thus allowing him to further examine the details from the past, future, and occasionally the present.
Sarah Bracknell Bannerman (played by Nicole de Boer) is Johnny's former fiancée and the mother of his son, J.J. Sarah married Walt Bannerman during Johnny's coma, and the two are raising J.J. together. Sarah knew Johnny when they were children, and later taught at the same school as he did. Sarah's mother died when she was a teenager, which strained her relationship with her father. At the end of season 5, Sarah was pregnant with Walt's child. At the beginning of season 6, she gives birth to Walt's daughter and names her "Hope".
Sheriff Walt Bannerman (played by Chris Bruno) initially has a very rocky relationship with Johnny, who often feels that Walt stole Sarah from him. Since then, as Johnny displays his powers more and more often in law enforcement situations, Johnny becomes an asset to Walt, and the two become friends. The name Walt Bannerman is a combination of the names George Bannerman and Walt Hazlett; in the novel, George Bannerman was the sheriff, and Walt Hazlett was the man Sarah married. At the beginning of season 6, Walt is killed in a fire at the Faith Heritage Chapel, but he continued to pop up throughout the season in visions and flashbacks, and even briefly as a ghost.
Bruce Lewis (played by John L. Adams) is a physiotherapist who helps Johnny regain his strength after his coma. Bruce is an open-minded spiritual person as a result of a religious upbringing by his pastor father. He is Johnny's best friend and frequently his voice of reason, and may very well be the reason for the divergence in this series when compared to the novel or 1983 movie (Johnny never tried to kill Greg Stillson before the election). An episode in season 2 even featured a vision of an alternate reality where instead of being a physical therapist, Bruce was a reverend who never met Johnny after waking up from his coma. Thus, with the absence of his guidance, this version of Johnny became unstable, deranged, and driven mad by his abilities.
Music
In the pilot episode, the music class practices the song "Mr. Sandman". In the same episode, Johnny and Sarah make out in his car to "Sleep Walk", a song by Santo & Johnny, which also featured in the Stephen King movie Sleepwalkers.
The theme song from seasons 1–3 is "New Year's Prayer" by Jeff Buckley.
The new theme song since season 4 is "Dead Zone Epic" by Blues Saraceno.
The promos for season 4 featured the song "Brace Yourself" by Howie Day.
The promos for season 5 featured the song "By My Side" by INXS.
The promos for season 6 featured the song "Touch Me" by The Doors.
Home media
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released all six seasons of The Dead Zone on DVD in Region 1, while CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) has also released all six seasons in Region 2.
On June 26, 2012, Lionsgate Home Entertainment released a complete series set on DVD in Canada only, while Paramount also released it in Europe.
In Australia, all six seasons had been released on DVD from 2006 to 2009. Madman Entertainment/Via Vision Entertainment has obtained the rights to the series and released a complete series box set on January 6, 2021.
The entire series is available on demand in the United States on YouTube and the Pluto TV app.
The series on DVD has the episode order based on the production order rather than the order in which the episodes were aired on TV.
Ratings
The first season averaged 6.4 million viewers, while season four averaged 3.4 million and season six averaged 2.1 million. The series premiere scored 6.4 million viewers, holding the record for highest premiere on USA Network, until bested by The 4400 premiere, which drew 7.4 million viewers.