''Daybreak'' is an American

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series created by

Brad Peyton Brad Peyton (born May 27, 1978) is a Canadian filmmaker, best known for directing the Dwayne Johnson star vehicles '' Journey 2: The Mysterious Island'' (2012), '' San Andreas'' (2015), and '' Rampage'' (2018) as well as the Netflix series '' Day ...

and

Aron Eli Coleite Aron Eli Coleite (sometimes credited Aron Coleite) is an American comic book writer, television writer and producer best known for his work on the Netflix series '' Daybreak'', the NBC series ''Heroes'' and on the comic book series ''Ultimate X- ...

, based on the comic series by

Brian Ralph Brian Ralph (born 1973) is an American alternative cartoonist. His illustrations have appeared in ''Wired'' and the ''New York Post''. His debut graphic novel, ''Cave-In'', was nominated for three Harvey Awards, one Eisner Award, and listed as one ...

. It premiered on October 24, 2019, on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

and stars

Colin Ford Colin Lee Ford (born September 12, 1996) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Josh Wheeler in '' Daybreak''; Joe McAlister in '' Under the Dome''; the voice of Jake on ''Jake and the Never Land Pirates''; Mikey on '' Can You Teach ...

, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Sophie Simnett,

Austin Crute Austin Crute (born October 24, 1995) is an American actor best known for his roles in the Netflix series '' Daybreak'' and the films ''Booksmart'' and ''They/Them''. Biography Crute was born into a religious family, the son of a pastor in Norcross ...

, Cody Kearsley, Jeanté Godlock, Gregory Kasyan,

Krysta Rodriguez Krysta Anne Rodriguez is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Ana Vargas in the NBC series '' Smash'', Summer Henderson in the NBC series '' Trial & Error'', Maxine Griffin in the ABC series '' Quantico'' and Ms. C ...

, and

Matthew Broderick Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American actor. He starred in ''WarGames'' (1983) as a teen government hacker, and ''Ladyhawke (film), Ladyhawke'' (1985), a medieval fantasy alongside Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. He play ...

. In December 2019, Netflix canceled the series after one season.

Synopsis

The series follows the story of 17-year-old Canadian high school outcast Josh Wheeler, who is searching for his missing British girlfriend Sam Dean in post-apocalyptic

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

. He is joined by a ragtag group of misfits, including 10-year-old

pyromaniac Pyromania is an impulse-control disorder in which individuals repeatedly fail to resist impulses to deliberately start fires, to relieve some tension or for instant gratification. The term ''pyromania'' comes from the Greek word (''pyr'', 'fi ...

Angelica and Josh's former high school bully Wesley, who is now a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

would-be

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

. Josh tries to survive among the hordes of ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It centres on a series of post-apocalyptic and dystopian action films. The franchise began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ...

''-style gangs (evil jocks, cheerleaders turned Amazonian warriors, etc), people who have turned into zombie-like creatures called Ghoulies, and the mysterious Baron Triumph. The leader of the jocks, Turbo, doesn't make things better; his terrible leadership and sadism threatens the remaining survivors.

Cast

Main

as Josh Wheeler, a recent transfer student searching for his girlfriend in the apocalypse. He is

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

aware, and not narrating out of craziness. * Alyvia Alyn Lind as Angelica Green, a 10-year-old

. She is a child genius who is somewhat psychopathic. * Sophie Simnett as Samaira "Sam" Dean, a popular student and Josh's girlfriend *

as Wesley Fists, a self-styled

rōnin In feudal Japan to early modern Japan (1185–1868), a ''rōnin'' ( ; , , 'drifter' or 'wandering man', ) was a samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan. A samurai became a ''rō ...

seeking redemption for his past mistakes * Cody Kearsley as Turbo "Bro Jock" Pokaski, former quarterback and the unhinged leader of the Jocks. His throat suffered damage during Armageddon, so Turbo can't speak well. * Jeanté Godlock as Mona Lisa, a Jock and Turbo's second-in-command * Gregory Kasyan as Eli Cardashyan, a resilient and self-serving

Armenian American Armenian Americans () are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in Russia. The first major wave of Armenian immig ...

survivor who occupies the Glendale Mall *

as Ms. Crumble, Glendale High's former biology teacher. She has severe head trauma caused during the onset of the apocalypse, which causes her to act irrationally and is initially mistaken for a Ghoulie. *

as Michael Francis Xavier Burr, Glendale High's principal. In Josh's flashbacks, Burr goes on nonsensical ramblings before getting to the point.

Recurring

The Jocks

* Chester Rushing as Terrence "Terry" Markazian, captain of the golf team * Micah McNeil as Jerry * Alan Trong as Larry * Mickey Dolan as Gary Stern * Jon Levert as Barry * Luke Valen as #54

The Daybreakers

*A.J. Voliton as Fred *Abigail Townsend as Vivienne *

Chelsea Zhang Chelsea T. Zhang (born November 4, 1996) is an American actress. She portrayed Rose Wilson in the HBO Max superhero series ''Titans'' (2019) and had recurring roles in the Disney Channel series ''Andi Mack'' (2017–2018) and the Netflix series ...

as Karen Jane "KJ", a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

and Josh's ally * Estrella Avila as Jessica Huntley * Kevin Bransford as Other Gay Josh * Jack Justice as Jew-Fro Simon * Bao Winn as Rocco

The Cheermazons

Jade Payton Jade Payton (born September 5, 1992) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the YouTube Red comedy series '' Good Game'' (2017), and the Netflix comedy series '' Glamorous'' (2023). Early life and education Payton completed her Ba ...

as Demi Anderson, one of the three leaders of the Cheermazons * Sandra Mae Frank as Victoria, one of the three leaders of the Cheermazons * Emily Snell as Miryam, one of the three leaders of the Cheermazons * Charlotte Benesch as Camilla, a Brazilian

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, bu ...

* Barbie Robertson as Veronica, Victoria's closest friend and

interpreter Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

Other survivors

Sammi Hanratty Samantha Lynn Hanratty (born September 20, 1995) is an American actress. Her first lead was in 2009, portraying Chrissa Maxwell in ''An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong''. In 2011, she played the role Whitney Brown in the film ''The Greenin ...

as Aria Killigan: the reclusive leader of the Gamers, and ally of KJ * Rob H. Roy as Jaden Hoyles * Erik Christensen as Jaden Thompson Magee * Gabriel Armijo as Jaden Unger * Austin Maas as Bro Jock * Zoe Biggers as Jaden Florentina * Andrew Fox as Owen 'Slowen' Krieger *

Natalie Alyn Lind Natalie Alyn Lind (born ) is an American actress. She is known for her television series appearances, such as her recurring roles as Dana Caldwell in '' The Goldbergs'' and Silver St. Cloud in '' Gotham'', and for her starring roles as Lauren S ...

as Mavis * Mitchell Hoog as Nimrod * Meg Smith as Isis Goodman * Jordyn Aurora Aquino as a disciple of Kardashia

Episodes

Production

Development

Peyton started creating a series based on the graphic novel in 2012. He realised that the book had influences from

Ferris Bueller ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck, with supporting roles from Jennifer Grey, Jeffrey Jones, Cindy P ...

. On July 26, 2018,

announced an order for the production of a ten-episode first season.

was set to serve as showrunner for the series. The series is created by

and Coleite who are credited as executive producers alongside Jeff Fierson. ASAP Entertainment will be involved in the production of the series. In September 2019, it was reported that the series was set to premiere on October 24, 2019. On December 16, 2019, Netflix canceled the series after one season.

Casting

In October 2018, it was announced that

would star in the series. In the same month, it was reported that

, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Sophie Simnett,

, Gregory Kasyan,

, Cody Kearsley, and Jeante Godlock joined the cast.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

for the first season took place on location in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, from October 2018 to April 2019.

Release

On September 16, 2019, a teaser trailer for the series was released. On October 7, 2019, Netflix released the official trailer for the series.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 70% approval rating for the first season with an average rating of 7.0/10, based on 33 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Daybreak'' blend of soapy teen drama and post apocalyptic horror has some truly inspired moments, even if it feels like you've seen a few of them before." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, it has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2019–present) 2010s American black comedy television series 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American high school television series 2010s American teen drama television series 2019 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings Apocalyptic television series American English-language television shows Netflix television dramas American post-apocalyptic television series Serial drama television series Television shows adapted into comics Television shows based on American comics American television series about teenagers Television shows filmed in New Mexico Television shows set in Los Angeles Television shows set in the United States