George A. Romero’s Final Zombie Film Heads Into Development

Despite George A. Romero passing away in 2017, his legacy continues to be felt to this day, with The Hollywood Reporter claiming that his final zombie film, Twilight of the Dead, is moving forward with a number of different screenwriters all collaborating on the endeavor. The filmmaker’s widow Suzanne Romero confirmed that the project is in a stable enough place where she is seeking out directors for the project, though no prospective candidates have been announced. Having already delivered fans six different zombie films over the course of his multi-decade career, Twilight of the Dead was set to be his swan song for the subgenre.

The outlet detailed that the logline for the film reads, “The story is set in a decimated world. Life has all but disappeared. But there still may be hope for humanity.”

Ahead of his passing, Romero was working on a treatment for the film with Paolo Zelati, who asked Romero’s wife if he could bring screenwriters Joe Knetter and Robert L. Lucas on to the project to complete it.

“I gave him my full blessing as long as I could be there every step of the way for it to remain true to George’s vision,” Suzanne Romero shared of the endeavor. “We had a solid treatment and the beginning of the script. I can 100 percent say that George would be incredibly happy to see this continue. He wanted this to be his final stamp on the zombie genre.”

While Romero’s 1968 Night of the Living Dead wasn’t the first zombie movie, it is considered by many to be the gold standard of the subgenre, with its “rules” going on to establish the nature of zombies in countless stories across all mediums. That film earned three sequels, with the concluding installment being 2005’s Land of the Dead.

“Everything started with my question to him: ‘Where do the zombies go at the end of Land of the Dead?’” Zelati teased of what to expect in the new film.

Following Land of the Dead, Romero continued exploring the world of zombies with Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead, neither of which were part of his well-known series.

“It is no secret that Diary and Survival were not the way he envisioned the series ending and George knew it very well,” Zelati pointed out. “Twilight of the Dead was his goodbye to the genre he created and wanted to go out with a powerful film.”

Stay tuned for details on the future of Twilight of the Dead.

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