As AMC’s “The Walking Dead” continues to break ratings records and pave the way as one of cable’s greatest successes, a smaller, less extravagant zombie series is quietly breathing new life into the Sundance Channel. “The Returned,” a French series subtitled in English, airs its third episode Nov. 14 — and it’s everything “The Walking Dead” isn’t.

There’s nothing wrong with the action-packed thrills of “The Walking Dead,” and the blood and guts make it a hit. But “The Returned” takes a more subdued and horrific approach to the zombie horror genre — the zombies aren’t brain-hungry monsters. Rather, they are in the same condition as they were before they died, with no recollection of ever having passed. They return home to their families expecting everything to be just how they left it.

Here’s where “The Returned” takes an eerier and more bone-chilling approach to our relationship with the dead. If our lost loved ones suddenly returned to us, would they approve of the person we’ve become? Camille (Yara Pilartz), a 15-year-old girl who died in a bus accident, comes home to find that her twin sister Lena (Jenna Thiam) — now four years older than her — has become a promiscuous drunk. Simon (Pierre Perrier), a young man who died on his wedding day, finds his former fiancee engaged to another man, more sad and emotionally disturbed than he remembers.

Unlike “The Walking Dead,” it’s not the dead who have changed — it’s the living.

The show succeeds in its honest portrayal of human emotion, an area in which “The Walking Dead” has suffered for years. In the first episode of “The Returned,” Lena is shocked to see her deceased sister come home — but instead of screaming in fear, like one might expect, she bursts into tears. When Adèle sees Simon in the flesh, she thinks her unstable mind is playing tricks on her and not that he is truly there. “The Returned” is realistic in displaying real-life grief and emotions as unpredictable — everyone reacts differently.

“The Returned” may have found the key to revitalizing the zombie genre — treating relationships with the dead as a bundle of emotion and mystery instead of the typical bloody mess of terror. An American adaptation of “The Returned” is currently in the works for A&E. This is perhaps signaling that a more emotional, character-driven horror is where the zombie genre is headed — and that’s nothing to fear.

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Nov. 14 print edition. Jeremy Grossman is arts editor. Email him at [email protected].