As Syfy's newest zombie drama Z Nation has learned, saying the Z-word is a bold move in an era that has seen the meteoric rise of AMC's The Walking Dead. <br /> <br />But DJ Qualls, who stars in the drama premiering tonight, isn't worried about the comparisons. <br /> <br />"We don't feel any sort of competition," he says. "We have similar subjects but we're completely different." <br />Qualls' character, nicknamed Citizen Z, is one example of exactly that. <br /> <br />On the show, the actor plays a man who's trapped at a National Security Agency listening post in the Arctic, out of reach of the zombie apocalypse and set up with years-worth of supplies. He also has access to all of NSA's technology, meaning he acts as a guide to the wayward survivors who are attempting to get one man — who is thought to have the secret to a cure for the disease that causes zombie transformations — to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab in California. <br /> <br />In that premise is another difference, says Qualls. <br /> <br />"I think our show is maybe a little more hopeful, too," he says. "We have a goal that seems kind of attainable — even though it's hard — we have hope to save mankind." <br /> <br />The show will track the survivor's trek and, as a result, find them having to fight their way through danger, rather than run from it. <br /> <br />"We're not in a camp somewhere holed up, we have to engage," says the actor, who formerly starred on FX's now-cancelled Legit. <br /> <br />Marooned Citizen Z is sort of the exception to that rule — for now, anyway — but that provides Qualls with a welcomed feeling of job security. <br /> <br />"The cool thing is I can't really be killed by a zombie because there aren't really any around." <br /> <br />Z Nation premieres Friday at 10 p.m. ET on Syfy. Watch an exclusive clip above.
