The dead have risen in Wausau, Wisconsin. Unlike previous tales of the resurrected, where the undead go on an unholy search for brains, flesh, or revenge, these graveborn only wish to rejoin their families, unaware of what has transpired.

These “Revivers” look and act just as they did before — mostly. They possess nearly immortal regenerative abilities and a few might be a bit mad, both angry and as a hatter. And amid all this paranormal lunacy, there is also a murder mystery, as Officer Dana Cypress (Melanie Scrofano) tries to solve the murder of her sister Em (Romy Weltman)…with the help of her sister Em.

Welcome to the world of Revival, a SyFy horror mystery series that poses existential questions about death and human nature, wrapped in a little bow of occasional zombie horror. Sort of.

Based on the best-selling Image Comics series from Tim Seeley and Mike Norton, the SyFy series centers on the mystery of how residents came back to life within a specific two-week period of dying, but also the mystery of who killed Em Cypress. To talk about the show and it’s unconventional mysteries, the cast and crew stopped by the TV Insider Studio ast San Diego Comic-Con last week, including co-creators, co-showrunners, and executive producers Aaron B. Koontz and Luke Boyce, executive producer and star Scrofano, and actors Romy Weltman, David James Elliott, and Andy McQueen.

According to the creators, part of the joy in bringing Revival to the small screen was building the mystery and shaping the pace of discovery. “It was fun to just continue to add different elements from the comic and not from the comic, and twist them in our own way. And keep the mystery going within the central mystery of who killed Em. So, yeah, it was a fun puzzle,” said Koontz.

“It was also fun to take Dana’s character, and Em’s as well, and take them to the point where they think they solved the case, and then, all bets are off,” agreed Boyce.

But for many, the main focus isn’t just the undead murder mystery at the center of the story, but the relationship between the two sisters, played by Scrofano and Weltman, who surprisingly found that their relationship as sisters grew after Em was stabbed through the chest.

“Having a big sister with such an age gap is complicated, and I think Em has always struggled, especially after losing their mom. [Her] big sister is also acting like their mother, so it’s pretty hard to have a relationship in that sense,” Weltman reflected. “Plus, adding the element of ‘my’ two lovely family members being overly protective, and not even letting Em prove herself or grow within, I think Em held a lot of resentment. But also, their holding resentment. I think Em always wanted Dana’s life. And I think when there is jealousy, resentment, and no communication, it is hard to move forward.”

Scrofano added that Em’s osteogenesis imperfecta kept them from growing close: “And I also think the brilliant lair of having this brittle bone disease added an element of ‘Don’t touch your sister! Be very careful with her!’ So there was always that distance built in. They couldn’t be proper sisters until Em came back.”

Revival, Thursdays, 10/9c, Syfy

— Additional reporting by Kate Hahn