Rosario Dawson Hunts Her Son As The Second Civil War Rages In DMZ Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDsrZk9yxwk

Rosario Dawson stars as a woman on the hunt for her missing son in the dystopian ruins of Manhattan in DMZ† The new miniseries is based on the comic book series created by Brian Wood and illustrated by Riccardo Burchielli. Some of the show will premiere at SXSW this month before landing on HBO Max. The official trailer just came out and it seems to be equal parts Escape from New York and FX/Hulus Y: The Last Man†

(Some mild spoilers for the comic books below.)

Published from November 2005 to February 2012, Wood and Burchielli’s comic book series is set in a near future in which the US has been devastated by the Second American Civil War and Manhattan has been turned into the title’s demilitarized zone. There are only about 400,000 people left on the island, most of them too poor to evacuate, snipers linked to various factions and stubborn stragglers who simply refuse to leave. (The comics are very New York-centered, inspired by Wood’s experiences living in NYC in early 2003 — that is, the aftermath of 9/11 and the US invasion of Iraq.)

The US government forces are at war with the Free States of America, which is more of an “idea” than a geographically specific entity. The movement began as a series of popular uprisings against the federal government’s focus on foreign wars as the infrastructure of America’s cities and states collapsed. The two forces find themselves at an impasse, complicated by several rogue factions. These include a private military contractor; DMZ militias formed by the remaining residents; Wilson’s Triads, a criminal organization operating out of Chinatown; former soldiers who are part of the Central Park Ghosts; the fur hat militia; and a combined political party/militia group called Delgado Nation, loyal to the elected populist “governor” of the DMZ, Parco Delgado.

The main character in the comics is photojournalist Matty Roth, who enters the DMZ as a war correspondent with a film crew for the fictional Liberty News Network. They are attacked by militia and an injured Matty is stranded in the DMZ. Fortunately, a former medical student named Zee Hernandez treats his wounds and becomes his guide in the DMZ. Matty is soon sucked into Delgado Nation, eventually leading his own military unit and accidentally killing a group of civilians. His actions turn him into an outcast and haunt him for the rest of the series.

Syfy was already interested in adapting the comic book series back in 2014, but nothing concrete seems to come of that, and in October 2019 HBO Max announced its own miniseries. HBO has hired Roberto Patino, best known for his work on west world and Sons of Lawlessness, to create it. Ava DuVernay (Selma, when they see us) signed on as an executive producer and also directed the pilot episode.

Based on this trailer, the miniseries deviates significantly from the comic book series by focusing on Dawson’s character, Alma Ortega, who appears to be loosely based on Zee. Benjamin Bratt plays Parco Delgado and Hoon Lee (warrior) plays what appears to be a version of Wilson, head of the Chinatown triads. The cast also includes Freddy Miyares, Venus Ariel, Jade Wu, Rey Gallegos, Agam Darshi, Juani Feliz, Rutina Wesley, Mamie Gummer, Nora Dunn, and Henry G. Sanders. None of them play Matty Roth, so who knows if the character even makes an appearance.

All four episodes of DMZ will debut on HBO Max on March 17, 2022. We’ll have to see if there’s any appetite for a near-future dystopian where the US has been torn apart by another civil war, given recent real-world events.

Listing image by YouTube/HBO Max