It’s difficult to imagine what ground a Purge TV series might cover that three movies didn’t, but we’ve got to hand it to Syfy; there are 364 other days of the year. So it is, that the new Purge anthology series will follow life on the days when murder isn’t legal, filming alongside a fourth cinematic chapter.

Previously, we learned that director James DeMonaco had in mind to develop an “interwoven anthology” series around the franchise, which was subsequently confirmed to air on both USA and Syfy. A few brief updates from the NBC and Syfy Upfront presentation now confirm that the series will shoot alongside a fourth Purge movie, and focus on how the annual bloodbath impacts life and law enforcement during the rest of the year.

That’s more or less in line with what DeMonaco said of the concept in September:

The idea of why I like the idea of a maybe 10 hour TV thing on this, the one thing you really can’t do on the films is, just because of mere real estate and time, is you can’t get into the nuance and complexity that would drive someone to commit a terrible act on this night. Whether it’s revenge or out of passion, but what might be interesting in a TV show is with a flashback narrative, if you start on Purge Night but you go back to show how people have gotten to where they are.

Where you see a couple that’s gone haywire on this night, but let’s show everything that’s led up to this moment of a husband trying to kill a wife – the cheating or the accusations of cheating or money problems. It will be interesting to show those arcs, those dramatic and complex arcs that get people to where they pick up a gun or a knife and kill someone else. I think there’s something cool that we can do with the real estate of TV – 10 hours, potentially.

We don’t yet know exactly when a Purge TV series might hit the airwaves, but can the concept translate to other nights of the year? Stay tuned for the latest details.

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