'Zombieland 2' Director's Epic Promise With Original Cast Returning

Zombieland 2 will be just as good, if not better, than its predecessor from a decade prior if Ruben Fleischer's excited promise is any indication.

Speaking to ComicBook.com in promotion of the upcoming release of his Venom movie, Fleischer opened up about revisiting the post-apocalyptic world with the original cast members (and some new ones). Since Zombieland released in 2009, its cast of Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, and Abigail Breslin have all created (or continued) impressive careers. Not only did the scheduling stars have to align to bring the gang back together but the cast members had a certain stipulation prefacing their return: a high-quality script.

"Well the reason we're all doing it again is 'cause a we all love the world of the movie so much," Fleischer said. "I think it was a real touchstone for all, for me certainly 'cause it was my first movie, but I think for Emma and Jesse it was a really just significant movie in their evolution. And Woody paid me a huge compliment. I was on the phone with him the other day and he said he's probably made over a hundred movies but the most fond memory he has is making Zombieland."

Clearly, the group of actors had a blast working under Fleischer on the Sony film. The fun wasn't enough to bring them back for another go, though. "I think we all have this honest nostalgia for the experience of making it and with that being said none of them would agree to do the movie until the script was good enough," Fleischer explained. "And we've been working on it for four years and have made sure that if we're gonna do it again it's at least as good if not better than the original and finally I think we have a script that we all feel really confident in go making and yeah, 'cause it's such a precious thing none of us want to tarnish its place, we only wanna build upon it."

If things go well with the sequel, revisiting the franchise might become a tradition.
"Emma said something that just really made me feel so happy the other day which was, 'We should just make a Zombieland movie every ten years. It should be like Boyhood or something where like every ten years we just make a Zombieland movie as a touchstone and see where these characters are,'" Fleischer said. "And I can't imagine a better way to spend the rest of my life is that every ten years getting to work with that cast."

Of course, the film does plan to expand its cast beyond the core four who drove the first. "We're casting," Fleischer said. "It can't just be the same four so we're right now in the middle of casting the film."

Before wrapping up his excited sentiments about the upcoming film, Fleischer made one last promise while on the topic of cameos -- after all, the Bill Murray appearance in the first film was unforgettable. "We've talked about many different ideas but all I can say is that there's a scene in this new script that I think will be as memorable, if not more so, than some of the most memorable scenes from the last movie," Fleischer said.

Zombieland 2 is slated for release on October 11, 2019.