Army of the Dead producer Deborah Snyder explains why the film took 10 years to make. Originally announced in 2007 with Universal and Warner Bros. on board, Army of the Dead lingered in development hell for a number of years before Netflix picked up the distribution rights in 2019. Filming took place in July of that year, but another project occupied a lot of Zack Snyder's time during 2020. The famed Snyder Cut of Justice League was finally released in March 2021, the director's last hurrah in the DC Extended Universe.
Army of the Dead will be the first non-DCEU film Snyder has directed since 2011's Sucker Punch, and the director has big plans for the franchise. In addition to the flagship entry, Netflix also has a Army of the Dead prequel on the way titled Army of Thieves. There's also an anime-style series in the works, indicating Netflix's interest in an on-going creative partnership with the director.
During a set visit in October of 2019, Screen Rant was able to speak with Deborah Snyder. She explained why it took so long to get the film to screen, saying that, in the beginning, Army of the Dead's script was being developed for a different director. When both Snyders finally came back to the project a year and a half ago, Zack Snyder decided he wanted to make the script his own, turning Army of the Dead into a hybrid zombie-heist film. Deborah Snyder sees now as the perfect time to release the film after the popularity of The Walking Dead and considering the potential to "up the ante" in the zombie genre.
We developed the script for another director at the time, like 10 years ago, and then for a lot of reasons it kind of cost too much, it was a first time director, and we just decided not to do it. Then when he came back, like a year-and-a-half ago, he was like “this is something I kind of want to do but I want to make this script my own.” So, he did a version of the script with this writer Shay Hatten, who’s a young writer, he's amazing, and they worked on the script and he made it his own and here we are today. So, it's been kind of a long journey, but I said to Zack the other day it feels so timely that we're making it now because I feel like a lot of the concepts are more relevant today and I think with the popularity of the zombie genre, we've had so much with Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead and, you know, to have this to up the ante, and to mash it with a heist movie is super cool.
Army of the Dead certainly seems poised to provide a new take on the undead when it hits Netflix. Interest has considerably waned in the zombie genre compared to when The Walking Dead was at its apex of popularity, but it sounds like both Snyders aren't worried about how the film will do. Army of the Dead's epic three minute trailer shows just how different Snyder's zombies will be, with the undead that are populating Vegas much more advanced than how they are typically depicted. The film will also carry an emotional weight to it with the group dynamics at its center.
Dave Bautista's Scott Ward will bring his daughter along for the heist, making the mission all the more dire when the group of mercenaries-for-hire realize just how hard it will be to get out of the city with their haul. The zombies in Army of the Dead are also from Area 51, indicating that everything may not be as it seems in the trailers. Snyder always has surprises in store when it comes to his films, and it sounds like Army of the Dead will be no different.
