World War Z Sequel Moving Forward With New Writer

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Dennis Kelly, creator of British conspiracy theory series Utopia, has been hired by Paramount Pictures to pen the next draft for the World War Z sequel. The first draft was penned by Steven Knight, the scribe behind Bradley Cooper's cooking-drama Burnt.

It wouldn't be a World War Z production without multiple screenwriters and some behind-the-scenes drams. The latest rumors involved J.A. Bayona (The Impossible), who has been set to direct the sequel since December of 2013. Word is, Universal checked in with him to direct the Jurassic World sequel since it appeared Paramount was dragging their feet with WWZ2. The interest in him was a wake-up call for Paramount to get WWZ2 moving forward and that is why Kelly was brought on board.

2013's World War Z was inundated with problems, like stopping production to rewrite an entirely new third act. At the end of the day, World War Z overcame all of its hurdles and earned $540M at the box office.

World War Z 2 is scheduled for release on June 9, 2017.