Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim will return for Disney Branded Television’s “Zombies 4” (working title), with production set to begin next month in New Zealand.
The pair will reprise their roles as Seabrook’s star-crossed zombie/cheerleader couple Addison and Zed, who embark on a road trip the summer after their first year of college.
“As adventures unfold, they unexpectedly discover the warring worlds of Sunnyside and Shadyside and come into contact with two new groups of monsters,” the logline states.
In addition to Donnelly and Manheim, Chandler Kinney and Kylee Russell will return as werewolf Willa and loveable zombie Eliza, respectively.
Newcomer Freya Skye and Disney Channel star Malachi Barton (Disney’s “Villains of Valley View”) join the franchise as the mysterious supernatural strangers Nova and Victor.
“Zombies” director Paul Hoen will return to helm the latest film, which is written by David Light and Joseph Raso (nominees for a Humanitas Prize for “Zombies”) and Josh Cagan (“Under Wraps 2”).
The premiere telecasts of the first three “Zombies” films all ranked No. 1 among kids ages 6-11 and tweens ages 9-14 when they debuted in 2018, 2020 and 2022, according to Nielsen.
The three films have logged 253 million hours watched across linear and streaming platforms since they launched and the films’ music has amassed more than 2.7 billion streams across YouTube Music, Disney Channel YouTube and Disney Music Vevo. The “Zombies” and “Zombies 3” soundtracks also hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Kid Albums chart.
“Zombies 4” is executive produced by Manheim, Donnelly, Hoen, Light, Raso,
Jane Fleming (“The Quest”) and Mark Ordesky (“The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy), while Mahita P. Simpson serves as co-executive producer. The movie is produced by Bloor Street Productions.
Additionally, “Zombies: The Re-Animated Series,” the franchise’s first-ever animated series, will debut this summer on Disney Channel and Disney+.
