Zack Snyder is confirming that the sequel to his horror action film Army of the Dead is going to be called “Planet of the Dead.” Snyder let the title be known while talking to Inverse about where the series goes next. Army of the Dead was just the beginning of an entire horror-action-thriller universe that Snyder is building – a franchise that will take its next fledgling step with the release of the prequel film Army of Thieves this week on Netflix. So, with the franchise quickly expanding, a title like Planet of the Dead is a bold declaration of just how ambitious Snyder is going to get with the sequel.
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In his full interview with Inverse, Zack Snyder didn’t just reveal that the sequel film will be called Planet of the Dead, he also teased that one major franchise character could make a surprise return! That character would be Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer), the boyish expert safecracker who looked wholly out of place in Dave Bautista’s Army of the Dead crew. Ludwig is actually the main character of the Army of Thieves prequel, which follows his run of high-stakes heists before the zompocalypse happened. And as Snyder revealed, Ludwig could actually show up in Planet of the Dead, as well:
“The real adventure would be to see what happened to [Ludwig] when that safe door closed. Did he get killed by Zeus or not? What happened? We don’t see him die on camera, and there’s still some time left. I won’t tell you what happens in Army of the Dead 2 — aka Planet of the Dead — but let’s just say that there’s a chance Dieter survives.”
(Army of the Dead SPOILERS Follow!)
If you saw Army of the Dead then you certainly know exactly the scene that Snyder is talking about. Ludwig Dieter made the shocking move to sacrifice himself when the zombie king Zeus stormed the heist with his horde. Ludwig locked madman Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick) in the impenetrable vault he had cracked, in order to keep Zeus from killing him in a violent duel. It looked like Zeus would take the frustration out by slaughtering Ludwig instead – but as Snyder points out, we never actually saw that happen.
There would be some great irony in Planet of the Dead revealing that Ludwig survived. After all, by shutting Vanderohe in the vault, Ludwig unwittingly caused the series of events that cause an entire Planet of the Dead movie to happen. Vanderohe was infected by Zeus in their fight, and survived the nuking of Las Vegas inside the vault, with a fortune in money all to himself. Army of the Dead ended with the epilogue that revealed how Vanderohe made it out of Vegas with the money – which he used to bribe his way around the usual checkpoints and safeguards. However, with the zombie infection in his veins, Vanderohe’s life may end in tragedy anyway – while the dead may have plenty of use of Ludwig, alive.
Army of the Dead is streaming on Netflix. Army of Thieves drops on Friday.
