On March 9, ABC will debut its quasi-zombie drama Resurrection, in which characters return from the dead, fully in-tact and just as confused about their predicament as those they left behind. The show, unlike traditional zombie narratives which pit the living against the dead (see The Walking Dead or, if you’re feeling self-abusive, Dawn of the Dead), will likely deal with both the living and undead’s attempts to cope with their new reality.

The limited series is based on The Returned, a book by Jason Mott. ABC executives have said the book is just a starting point for their original take on the overwrought zombie narrative.

It sounds like a great idea -- corner the market for thriller junkies who can’t deal with The Walking Dead’s gore -- and for a major American network, it will certainly be groundbreaking. But upon closer inspection, there is nothing “original” about ABC’s show; in fact, Resurrection may be considered plagiaristic by existing fans of the genre.

That’s because, as we will see, there are plenty of movies and television shows -- including some which are currently airing -- that tackle this same concept. Here’s an attempt to parse all of entertainment’s tales of return, resurrection and reborn.

First came the underrated French drama They Came Back, directed by Manuel Carballo, which was one of the first to tackle the non-violent zombie motif. The tone of the movie is not set by violent clashes between villagers and the undead, but by the conspiracies and paranoia that abound in a French village overrun with “zombies” who seek only to be re-woven into the community fabric.

In 2012, Les Revenants (English: The Returned) debuted to a firestorm of critical and commercial success on France pay-cable giant Canal Plus. The series is adapted from They Came Back and is considered a more fully realized version of the film. It has almost nothing in common with Mott’s book -- aside from the title -- but is a compulsively watchable show with a gripping story and excellent pacing.

The show was such a hit that in late 2013, it became one of a select group of shows to successfully make the leap from European to U.S. television. While much of the cross-Atlantic is one-sided -- American shows being bought and subtitled by European channels -- The Returned succeeded in fighting the tide when it premiered on Sundance Channel on Halloween. While most European shows are adapted (in English) for an American audience, The Returned premiered just as it had in France, with English subtitles.

Sundance Channel announced in January they had purchased rights to the second season, signifying The Returned is here to stay in the States -- in its original form.

That hasn’t stopped A&E from acquiring the rights for an American remake of the acclaimed drama. When the acquisition was announced in December, the AV Club cheekily noted the irony of airing two versions of the same show simultaneously to a U.S. audience with this headline: “A&E remaking the French series The Returned for Americans who don’t speak no french.”

Add ABC’s Resurrection to the mix and that makes three not-so-zombie television shows slated to air in America sometime in 2014. And that’s not even counting the 2013 film The Returned, which, despite the similar name, is a much more energetic and action-packed -- if not exactly the blood-sucking, undead romp to which audiences are accustomed.