Night of the Living Dead Sequel in Works From The Walking Dead Writer

Another Night of the Living Dead is on the rise. Filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny, Two Sentence Horror Stories) will direct a new sequel to George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, the 1968 independent horror movie that spawned the zombie movie genre. LaToya Morgan, a consulting producer and writer of recent seasons of AMC zombie drama The Walking Dead, is penning the script for Village Roadshow Pictures, Origin Story, Vertigo and Westbrook Studios. Christine Romero, the “Godfather of the Dead’s” former wife, will serve as creative overseer for Romero’s Sanibel Films. Deadline first reported the news.

“The original version of Night of the Living Dead is still so resonant to this day,” Jusu said. “Every era has the zombie that it needs and right now, zombies reflect the ways that humans treat each other and show us who is truly the monster.”

The original Night of the Living Dead is “one of the great cornerstones of the horror genre,” said Morgan. “I’m beyond thrilled to be playing in the sandbox that George Romero built and ecstatic to raise the stakes and push the envelope with this exciting new story.”

Said Chris Romero: “I am so excited by this visionary team ofstorytellers that have come together to expand on the premise of theoriginal film. Revisiting the world that George and his collaboratorscreated is going to be a treat for fans. George would have been so happyto see this happen!”

The original Living Dead spawned a franchise for Romero, who followed up his film with 1978’s Dawn of the Dead, 1985’s Day of the Dead, 2005’s Land of the Dead, 2007’s Diary of the Dead, and his final film, 2009’s Survival of the Dead. It’s unclear if the new movie is related to Twilight of the Dead, which Romero developed before his death in 2017.  (The filmmaker’s widow, Suzanne Romero, was still developing that project as of 2021 with the logline: “The story is set in a decimated world. Life has all but disappeared. But there still may be hope for humanity.”)

Plot details for the Jusu-Morgan project are under wraps. CAA Media Finance (Moonfall, The Gentlemen) and Village Roadshow Pictures (DC’s Constantine, Joker) will share U.S. rights, with FilmNation Entertainment (Suspiria, M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin) handling international rights. The latter will introduce the project to buyers at the American Film Market, according to Deadline.

Romero’s 1968 original film starred leading man Duane Jones as Ben, among the living pursued by flesh-eating ghouls, and a cast that included Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, and Judith Riley. 

Because Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain, the film has been remade multiple times, including the Tom Savini-directed 1990 version. 

“They changed the title at the last minute,” The Walking Dead director and special makeup effects artist Greg Nicotero, who is producing a film about the making of Night of the Living Dead, previously told Deadline. “Originally the movie was called Night of the Flesh Eaters, and at the last minute they changed the title to Night of the Living Dead, which they inadvertently left off the copyright. Only after Night of the Living Dead was released did they realize it wasn’t copyrighted, and that’s why there were so many versions of it out there available on DVD.”

Nicotero explained: “They went to court with the Walter Reade Organization, which left the copyright off. So George’s first foray into the film world was rife with copyright lawsuits, which they lost. I believe that had that been copyrighted, George’s career would have gone in a completely different direction. But he was a slave to a clerical error that cost him millions and millions of dollars.”