After 28 Years Later, the Biggest Zombie Movie Ever Needs Its Cancelled Sequel To Be Resurrected

28 Years Later and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple has revitalized the zombie genre, meaning that now is the perfect time for this cancelled zombie sequel to be resurrected. Zombie mania swept the world in the early 2010s, with franchises like The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, and others becoming massive. However, oversaturation led to the decline of interest in zombies, with it staying low until recent years.

Now, the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us and the 28 Years Later series has reinvigorated interest in zombies after this short lull. These projects have brought prestige back to the world of zombies, with their quality being what has brought them so much acclaim. So, now is the perfect time for one of the biggest zombie movies of the 2010s to get a sequel.

Now Is The Perfect Time For World War Z 2

2013’s World War Z was a major staple of the zombie mania of the 2010s, with the film being one of the biggest influencers of the trend. Directed by Marc Foster, the film follows Brad Pitt’s Gerry Lane, a U.N. investigator who attempts to find the source of a zombie outbreak and stop the zombie apocalypse from continuing. The film made $540 million on a budget of $269 million, proving that it was a profitable and popular project.

Despite the film’s success, a sequel never happened. Ahead of the first film’s release, Paramount had plans for a World War Z trilogy if the first film was successful. The second film went into development, with J. A. Bayona and Steven Knight being brought on to direct and write it, respectively. The film was given a release date of June 9, 2017, with fans excited to finally see World War Z 2.

However, Bayone left the project in January 2016, and filming still hadn’t started by February 2017. Filming was slated to start in fall 2018, but it was then pushed back to June 2019. Sadly, World War Z 2 was officially canceled in February 2019, putting an end to hopes for a sequel.

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Now that the 28 Years Later series has proven that zombie movies can still be a success, World War Z 2 really needs to be brought back. Brad Pitt is still a major movie star, and positioning the film as a legacy sequel could be even more exciting than the original sequel plans.

Luckily, good news came in late 2025. Paramount announced that World War Z 2 was a possibility when listing franchises that it hoped to make priorities. This created a lot of hope that World War Z 2 could actually happen, and 28 Years Later could be further motivation for Paramount to get the project moving.

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