If you thought “Army of the Dead” would be a one-and-done story, you were very wrong. Netflix has had a whole franchise in the works since before that film dominated the streamer’s charts. There’s an animated prequel series on the way, along with a live-action prequel film focusing on the safecracker Ludwig Dieter called “Army of Thieves” — which we just got a sick trailer for during the film’s Comic-Con@Home panel.
You can watch it in the embed above.
We’ve got good news for those weren’t into the very dour vibe of “Army of the Dead” — “Army of Thieves,” which is not directed by Zack Snyder, looks a lot sillier, and just generally more in line with your standard action movie in terms of tone. On the flip side of that, if you were really into the dour vibe of “Army of the Dead,” then this might be frustrating.
In any case, producer Deborah Snyder described “Army of Thieves” as “a romantic comedy heist film,” and so in that light, the shift in tone makes a lot of sense.
“Army of Thieves” takes place when the zombie outbreak is just getting started, and tells the story of another action-packed heist that Dieter was a part of before “Army of the Dead.” And judging by the trailer, this heist is where he learned to break into that fancy vault in Vegas — because it looks an awful lot like this job also involves one of those things.
Dieter is the only character from “Army of the Dead” returning in “Army of Thieves,” and that also probably demanded a tonal shift since he was certainly the least serious character among that cast. Matthias Schweighofer, the actor who plays Dieter, also directed the film.
Snyder co-wrote the story for the prequel with screenwriter Shay Hatten. Aside from Schweighofer, “Army of Thieves” will star Nathalie Emmanual of “Fast & Furious” and “Game of Thrones” fame. There’s no release date just yet.