James Gunn Has Grim Answer for Fan's Dawn of the Dead Question

Before they were known as the architects of consecutive film iterations of the DC Universe, Zack Snyder and James Gunn collaborated on a 2004 remake of George A. Romero's zombie classic Dawn of the Dead. Featuring a stacked cast including Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames, Dawn of the Dead centered -- as did the original -- on a small group of survivors who holed up in a suburban mall to hide from a horde of zombies. The drama comes from the interpersonal conflicts of a group of desperate strangers stuck together in a bad situation, and the horror comes from the army of the dead outside.

Coming on the heels of 2002's 28 Days Later, Gunn and Snyder's Dawn of the Dead was one of the first major signs that the zombie horror genre was ready for a massive explosion in popularity. Unlike 28 Days Later, though, the characters in Dawn of the Dead didn't have such a peaceful future to look forward to. After escaping the mall and commandeering a boat, our heroes disembarked, only to find that the island where they sought sanctuary was also infested with the undead.

Enter Threads user "henrycavillbatman_," who wanted a definitive answer from Gunn: "What happened to the survivors at the end of Dawn of the Dead?"

Given their hopeless situation, most viewers likely assumed that the movie's heroes had died, rendering a heartbreaking sacrifice by Michael (Jake Weber) moot. With two simple words, Gunn confirmed this interpretation of the movie's mid-credits stinger:

"What survivors?" Gunn asked.

You can see the post below.

Of course, the success of 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead would lead to a flood of zombie movies in the 2000s, and finally to the launch of AMC's The Walking Dead, based on Robert Kirkman's graphic novel of the same name. That show was the most-watched on TV for years and while it has since lost a lot of that luster, the franchise continues on to this day with The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live currently airing on the network and marking the best-reviewed installment of the series yet.

Snyder and Gunn, meanwhile, have also gone on to do huge things. Following the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise at Disney, Gunn is now the co-CEO of DC Studios, where he is directing Superman. Snyder had his turn with the Man of Steel, and has now moved on from DC and is serving as the world-builder behind franchises like Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon at Netflix.