‘Army of the Dead’, the upcoming zombie heist film by Zack Snyder, is all set to have an expanded universe, all on Netflix, which is also backing the movie. According to reports, ‘Army of the Dead’ will be followed by a prequel movie, as well as an anime series with some of the characters. These developments are interesting, as Snyder’s debut directorial venture was the remake of the 1978 horror movie ‘Dawn of the Dead’, back in 2004. He then, of course, went on to gain fame for the likes of ‘300’ and ‘Watchmen’, after which he was snapped up to helm the DC Extended Universe, directing ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice’.
‘Army of the Dead’, which has an ensemble cast led by Dave Bautista and Ella Purnell, is set in Las Vegas during a zombie outbreak, where the protagonists decide to rob a casino and play casino games for real money during a zombie attack. Another interesting tidbit is the fact that Matthias Schweighofer, who played the role of Ludwig Deiter in ‘Dawn of the Dead’, reprises his role for this movie, and will apparently direct and star in the prequel movie. Another link to Snyder’s movies is Shay Hatten, the writer for this movie who will also pen the script for the prequel as well as the anime series.
The anime series, which is being called ‘Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas’ for now, will supposedly be based on Bautista’s character, while rumors are that Snyder will direct at least two episodes as well, with Jay Olivia serving as showrunner. These projects only go to show the faith and belief that Netflix has in this movie as well as the potential for a wider media universe for the franchise, and is also a solid thumbs up for Snyder’s vision. With all of the links and common cast and crew members, it is extremely likely that we will get a coherent storyline and vision across all these movies as well as the anime series.
Of course, Snyder fans will know that 2021 is a big year for him, and not just because of this movie. After years of demands and hoping against hope, fans will finally get to see his version of the ‘Justice League’ movie. For those in the dark, Snyder was directing the DC Comics saga when he had to step away due to a family bereavement, following which Joss Whedon, best known in the superhero movie genre for directing the first two ‘Avengers’ movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stepped in to complete the project. The resulting movie was critically and commercially panned, and fans were not happy with it at all.
However, rumors of a ‘Snyder Cut’ of the movie continued to swirl around, and Snyder himself only added to them by saying that he had never seen the final, released version of the movie, and also teasing small clips and images from his version. This lead to widespread calls for the ‘Snyder Cut’ to be released and that pressure from fans finally paid off, with the ‘original’ Justice League movie set to come out on HBO Max next year. This decision was praised by many of the movie’s cast members as well, such as Ben Affleck (Batman) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), and a trailer that was released recently showed very different scenes, which have already got the fans in a tizzy and waiting in anticipation. Thus, 2021 promises to be a significant year for Snyder fans as well as the man himself, and we cannot wait to see both these movies.
