‘World War Z’ Sequel Finds Its Writer

Steven Knight, the screenwriter whose credits range from Eastern Promises to the current Tom Hardy drama Locke, has closed a deal to pen the sequel to World War Z for Paramount and Skydance.

The project already has a director in Juan Antonio Bayona (The Impossible), who came on board in December and will work closely with Knight on the script.

Z, based on the novel by Max Brooks, was one of the summer’s surprise hits, grossing $202 million domestically and $540 million worldwide.

THR COVER: Robert Pattinson on Moving Past ‘Twilight’ and Downsizing His Life 

Z starred Brad Pitt (who also was a producer via his Plan B shingle) as a United Nations employee who travels the world as he tries to stop a zombie plague, all the while trying to communicate with his family.

The take on the sequel, to be produced by Plan B, is being kept under wraps.

Knight, who is British, wrote tight thrillers such as Pretty Little Things and David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises before working on Martin Scorsese’s Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle Shutter Island.

While Knight has several projects in development (Larklight at Warner Bros., for example), he does have Locke, which he wrote and directed, in theaters now. The indie drama stars Hardy as a man trying to keep his life from unraveling from the backseat of a car.

Knight is repped by CAA and U.K.’s United Agents.