Les Revenants: The confusing tale of ABC's "Resurrection" and A&E's direct "adaptation"

As I scour the internet for various clues about how fans of Les Revenants feel about Resurrection, it has been stated by many Reddit users that Resurrection is not in fact, an adaptation of Canal+'s Les Revenants.

Resurrection is an ABC series distributed through Disney Media Distribution (further production information can also be found through the Resurrection Wikipedia Page)

However, as with any form of television media, intellectual property right may be at play, and although the genesis of Resurrection is said to stem from the book The Returned by Jason Mott according to an article on hollywoodreporter.com , while Les Revenants is said to have stemmed from a french movie (Les Revenants) whose title translates to They Came Back

What exactly does all of this mean?

While the two shows are "allegedly" not the same, both are based off of central concepts of the dead returning and reintegrating to society (without zombification aspects; e.g eating people), heavy food consumption with the dead such as consistent snacking (based on episode one of Resurrection, and all episodes of Les Revenants that I have seen) as well as featuring a young male pro/antagonist for one of the central characters.

Les Revenants Victor

Resurrection's Jacob 

While browsing through the r/lesrevenants thread on Reddit, I came across a thread that was titled: 

"Things that will be changed for the American version.." [the entire thread can be accessed through this link for further detail] 

Aside from one user griping about the lack of nudity and show setting, a user by the name of Overdrivex stated: "I don't think there is an American version in production. There's an English language version in development with the title They Came Back but the rights are held by AbbottVision/Fremantle who are British, and then there's the totally unrelated Resurrection from ABC".    

While another user, transmigrant,  rebutted:  It's weird they say Resurrection has no connection when the plot sounds identical:

"The series follows the residents of Arcadia, Missouri, whose lives are upended when their loved ones return from the dead, unaged since their deaths. Among the returned is Jacob Langston, an eight-year-old boy who drowned 32 years earlier." AKA Victor (Though shot about 32 years earlier).   

Joining in on transmigrant's observation was user eugeniusmith that wrote in response to transmigrant's claim:  Agreed. Based on the commercials I immediately assumed Resurrection was an American version of a British version of the French show.   

One can easily see how the two shows could be confused as adaptations, or directly linked to adaptations based on core show concepts, and as eugeniusmith pointed out, commercials. 

There was also another thread that asked if Resurrection was similar to Les Revenants which can be read in-depth here  where users disagree that the ABC show has little to nothing to do with the French show. 

A&E however has other plans in store for Les Revenants fans, ordering a 10 episode "adaptation" of the television series. According to an article from deadline.com A&E has ordered The Returned to be made for their network and acquired rights to the series last fall. 

Also according to denofgeek.com (where the full article can be accessed through this link) there is officially only one, US adaptation of Les Revenants titled The Returned. There was some slight confusion it seemed with a UK version also being commissioned however, as clarified within the article: 

Contrary to the below, we've learned that the newly announced A&E remake is one and the same as the FremantleMedia adaptation formerly attached to production company, AbbottVision. Paul Abbott is no longer working on the project.


So what exactly does this mean to fans? Who knows, but one thing is for sure, those slight majority that are a fan of Les Revenants that have decided to give Resurrection a go are not, as it seems "fans". 

Quoting from Reddit user mybackwardswalk: If you like the basic plot but hate the actual show watch the French series Les Revenants (2012). I can't stop comparing Resurrection to it, and Resurrection is just rubbish in comparison. Even though they're not based on the same book/film. 

The full thread can be located, here.