Hoping to carve off a piece of the audience that's made The Walking Dead a hit for AMC, Syfy in April ordered Z Nation, a post-apocalyptic drama set three years after a zombie virus ravages the country. And now the cable channel has offered the first look at the series with a 30-second TV spot.

Produced by The Asylum, the company behind Sharknado, Z Nation stars DJ Qualls (The Loser), Harold Perrineau (Lost), Michael Welch (Twilight), Kellita Smith (The Bernie Mac Show), Anastasia Baranova (Veronica Mars), Russel Hodgkingson (21 & Over, Big Fish) and Keith Allan (Zombie Night, Rise of the Zombies). Karl Schaefer, who worked on Eerie, Indiana and Eureka, signed on as executive producer and showrunner. Here's the synopsis:

Z Nation starts three years after the zombie virus has gutted the country, when a team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood. Although the antibodies he carries are the world's last, best hope for a vaccine, he hides a dark secret that threatens them all. With humankind's survival at stake, the ragtag band embarks on a journey of survival across three thousand miles of rusted-out post-apocalyptic America.