Zack Snyder is currently working on his second ever zombie film, Army of the Dead, but could it be a stealth sequel to his Dawn of the Dead remake? Snyder is now most closely associated with his DC tenure, in which he helped launch the DCEU line of films with Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The odd fate of Justice League also still remains a hot topic, thanks to the ongoing Release the Snyder Cut movement. But long before that, Snyder made his name directing a zombie outbreak.
A critical and commercial success, Snyder's Dawn of the Dead seemed ripe for a sequel, outside of the fact that the film's credits scenes seemed to kill off all the surviving cast members. Some noise was initially made about the possibility of a follow-up, but it never progressed beyond that, with Snyder going on to further his career by directing films like 300 and Watchmen.
Considering how good Dawn of the Dead 2004 turned out, it's always been kind of disappointing that Snyder never returned to the horror genre, at least not until the 2019 announcement that he was set to direct a zombie film for Netflix called Army of the Dead. It's not being promoted as a Dawn of the Dead sequel, but it might well be secretly intended as one.
Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead: Is It A Dawn Sequel?
Complicating the question of whether Army of the Dead is a sequel to Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead is that the project was first conceived as one. First announced in 2008, with future The Thing prequel director Matthijs van Heijningen set to direct and Snyder onboard as a producer, Army of the Dead's script was based on a story idea by Snyder. It's unclear if the original plan was to include characters from Snyder's Dawn, or just set it within the same world. Either way, it was definitely intended as a sequel at one point.
However, after Army of the Dead spent over a decade in development hell, before being rescued by Snyder and Netflix, no mention has been made of a connection between Army and Dawn of the Dead. It's also been reported that the current script for Army of the Dead was heavily rewritten by Snyder and original writer Joby Harold, with the final product bearing little resemblance to the 2008 version. So, does that mean Army of the Dead now isn't a Dawn of the Dead sequel? Not necessarily.
It's entirely possible that Snyder still intends Army of the Dead to be a follow-up to Dawn of the Dead, but would prefer any connections between the two films be a surprise for fans when they actually sit down to watch the new film on Netflix. It's also possible that because Dawn of the Dead was a Universal film and Army of the Dead isn't, rights issues might prevent Army from making any ties to Dawn explicit. Either way, Snyder is a filmmaker who loves slipping in subtle references and Easter eggs within his work, so it's hard to imagine the two films not ultimately being connected in some way.