Army Of The Dead 2: Every Hint The Sequel Is Set In The Post-Apocalypse

Zack Snyder’s forthcoming Army of the Dead 2, titled Planet of the Dead, could be a post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Following many years of development, Army of the Dead debuted on Netflix in May 2021, following a limited theatrical engagement. Though the film marked a return to the zombie genre for Snyder following his 2004 directorial debut Dawn of the Dead, Army of the Dead was chapter one of a universe of its own.

Army of the Dead sees a team of mercenaries recruited to pull off a vault heist in Las Vegas, with the city being abandoned and sealed off from the world after a zombie outbreak. Army of the Dead was followed by the prequel Army of Thieves, directed by Matthias Schweighöfer and focusing on his character from the first film, safecracker Ludwig Dieter. In addition to the direct sequel Planet of the Dead, an animated prequel series, Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, is also on the way, among the numerous projects Snyder currently has in the works with Netflix, including his next movie, the sci-fi film Rebel Moon.

While Army of the Dead told what was, by zombie movie standards, a story that was very localized to its primary location and included elements like robot zombies, Army of the Dead 2 seems likely to do something different. In fact, there are numerous indications, including from Snyder himself, that Planet of the Dead won’t just involve a bigger zombie war. Rather Planet of the Dead could well involve Earth being overtaken by zombies with the surviving humans living an unrecognizable world.

Hints Of The Army Of The Dead Universe Going Post-Apocalyptic

The title Planet of the Dead itself hints at a much larger zombie outbreak than the first film showed in the isolated Las Vegas. The city experiences an apocalypse on the micro-level in the opening credits montage of Army of the Dead, and a worldwide dispersal of zombies would be a macro-level apocalyptic event. Furthermore, the ending of Army of the Dead also alludes to the franchise going in this direction.

As Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick) heads to Mexico City in a rented private jet, he realizes he was bitten by Zeus (Richard Cetrone), king of the intelligent subset of zombies codenamed “Alphas”. This means that the zombie virus that started the plague is now no longer contained in Las Vegas, and with the Planet of the Dead title of the sequel, this alludes to any subsequent containment efforts failing. While these hints are found in the actual film, comments by Zack Snyder also point in the direction of the Army of the Dead universe moving into the apocalypse.

Snyder’s Comments On The Series Also Allude To A Post-Apocalyptic Sequel

Snyder is well-known for his deconstructionist style of directing genre films, and he has spoken openly about the Army of the Dead franchise in terms of being a genre-bending playground of sorts. This can be seen in the movie presenting Zeus as simply a leader trying to look out for his people, and only entering into conflict with humans when the Alpha’s territory is intruded upon. Snyder has also described Army of the Dead as a franchise where his approach is to “have fun without making fun“, and this might say some crucial things about the franchise’s future in Army of the Dead 2 and onwards.

When it comes to the zombie genre specifically, zombies themselves make a societal collapse stemming from their activity all but an inevitability. That’s particularly true in any zombie property that’s expanded into a franchise, with George Romero’s Living Dead movies, The Walking Dead franchise, and the Zombieland films all showing the world overrun by zombies as a natural outcome of the spread of the plague and the respective series themselves continuing ahead. Army of the Dead being part heist movie made the contained nature of the zombie outbreak function for its story, and also for that of Army of Thieves, but for Snyder to continue playing with zombie movie tropes, the entire planet falling to the undead is the pinnacle of what zombie movies head towards, and just one more signal of what Planet of the Dead will have in store.

What Does This Mean For Army Of The Dead’s Time Loop?

While Planet of the Dead could move the franchise into a setting similar to Mad Max: Fury Road, this also begs the question of what a post-apocalyptic Army of the Dead 2 could mean for the teased time loop elements of the franchise. Theories have run rampant ever since Vanderohe’s time loop monologue in Army of the Dead, while Snyder has made teases about it without giving any concrete details. If Planet of the Dead moves into the post-apocalyptic future, this could imply a few things about the time loop.

One theory put forth is that Army of the Dead‘s time loop is more abstract than literal, particularly with Dieter’s zombie attack visions in Army of Thieves. By the same token, the literal time loop reading hasn’t lost steam either, nor has the idea that the alien connection of Army of the Dead has something to do with it. A post-apocalyptic Planet of the Dead could offer a third possibility of all of the above, with the characters stuck in a looping cycle of sorts while the world around them continues in a linear time procession. Of course, this side of the Army of the Dead franchise remains almost completely unrevealed, so it’s all a guessing game, but the idea of the franchise’s main characters running in place from death to rebirth while the world keeps spinning could be how it progresses into the zombie-ruled Earth in Planet of the Dead with the time loop both real and allegorical.

Army of the Dead was the rare zombie movie to operate on two usually incompatible planes of storytelling with the undead rising as human society remains intact. Army of the Dead 2 might be the point where the franchise takes the gloves off on zombies truly being unleashed upon the world. Even then, with the intelligence of the Alphas, Planet of the Dead would continue Snyder’s zombie deconstruction in a world now dominated by zombies that represent a middle ground between the living and the undead.

About The Author

Brad Curran
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Growing up, Brad developed an innate love of movies and storytelling, and was instantly enamored with the world of adventure while following the exploits of Indiana Jones, Japanese kaiju, and superheroes. Today, Brad channels his thoughts on all manner of movies, from comic book films, sci-fi thrillers, comedies, and everything in between through his writings on Screen Rant. Brad also offers philosophical musings on martial arts and the filmographies of everyone from Jackie Chan to Donnie Yen on Kung Fu Kingdom, where he’s also had the privilege of interviewing many of the world’s great stunt professionals, and hearing plenty of gripping stories on injuries incurred in their line of work and the intricacies of designing the acts of death defiance he first thrilled to as a youngster. When he’s not writing, Brad enjoys going on a ride with the latest action hit or Netflix original, though he’s also known to just pop in “The Room” from time to time. Follow Brad on Twitter @BradCurran.

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