Months before its debut, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead is expanding into a universe, receiving the go-ahead for a prequel and an anime spinoff from Netflix.
The development is a strong show of support for the movie, which sees Dave Bautista lead an international cast and follows a group of mercenaries who try to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted in a zombie-infested Las Vegas, Nevada. The movie has no official release date other than some time in 2021, and may mark the first time Netflix has given the nod to development or greenlight ahead of the debut of one of the company’s movies. Netflix made the announcement Thursday.
“I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity to partner with Netflix again as we expand the Army of the Dead universe with both an international prequel, as well as exploring the visually dynamic world of animation,” said Snyder in a statement. “It’s been a great collaboration and we are thrilled that Netflix sees this as big of an IP as we do.”
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Shay Hatten, one of the writers of the screenplay for Dead, will write the prequel as well as the anime series. The prequel will be directed by and star Dead actor Matthias Schweighöfer. The story will follow his character “Ludwig Dieter” and be made in Germany. Deborah Snyder, Snyder and Wesley Coller will produce via their banner, The Stone Quarry, along with and Schweighöfer and Dan Maag of PANTALEON Films.
The anime series, Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, will chronicles the origin story of Bautista’s character and his rescue crew during the initial fall of Vegas as they confront the mysterious source of the zombie outbreak.
Snyder will direct two episodes of the anime series while Jay Oliva, who has directed numerous movies for DC Comics’ animated line and was a storyboard artist for Dead, will act as showrunner and also direct two episodes of the series. Bautista, Ana de la Reguera, Tig Notaro, Omari Hardwick and Ella Purnell will reprise their roles in the anime series.
Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Coller are executive producing along with Olivia and Hatten.
Schweighöfer is represented by UTA and Untitled Entertainment. Snyder is repped by CAA.
