WARNING: Spoilers for Army of the Dead

Zack Snyder teased whether or not Dieter survived in his recently released film Army of the Dead. Netflix's zombie heist action epic debuted on the streamer this past weekend after a brief run in theaters and it has been sitting in the number one spot of the Top 10 the entire time. It's safe to say Snyder's two-and-a-half hour epic was highly anticipated and the film follows through on much of the promise shown in the trailers, filling its runtime with plenty of action and wiping out nearly every member of the cast in the process.

Hardly anyone made it out of Army of the Dead alive. One who did, Omari Hardwick's Vanderohe, was bitten on the arm by a zombie before making his way out of the underground safe and onto a private plane bound for Mexico City. Ella Purnell's Kate Ward also managed to survive the nuclear blast at the end of the film after being thrown out of a helicopter and forced to kill her father, played by Dave Bautista, after he turned into a zombie. There's one character whose fate was left open-ended, though, and it seems like that may have been on purpose.

Related: Army of the Dead: Is [SPOILER] Really Dead?

Speaking to TheFilmJunkee, Snyder teased the survival of Matthias Schweighöfer's Ludwig Dieter, the team's safecracker. The director plays coy when asked about whether or not Dieter makes it out of The Bly casino alive, but did point to the fact that he is not seen dying onscreen. Snyder goes on to cite the "rules of horror" that imply a character may be alive if their death is not explicitly shown.

We don't see [Dieter] die, that's true. That's fair. You would say in a horror movie if we don't see you die ... by the rules of horror...

Army of the Dead Dieter Opening Safe

Dieter is last seen near the underground safe, fighting against Army of the Dead's super zombie, Zeus, alongside Vanderohe. Dieter sacrifices himself to save the soldier, shoving Vanderohe into the vault and closing the door while Zeus grabs his head and pulls him away. Instantly, it's easy to assume that Dieter will meet a grisly end in the seconds after this scene, but whatever happens to him is not shown. It's important to remember that Zeus does not kill all of his victims in the film and, if Vanderohe made it out alive, it's quite possible Dieter was able to survive the blast, too.

There's also a prequel to consider. Army of the Dead isn't Snyder's only project set up at Netflix. The director has another film, titled Army of Thieves, in the works at the streamer that will dive into Dieter's backstory. This focus on him implies his importance going forward and with Army of the Dead's ending clearly setting up a sequel, there's an all too real possibility that fans haven't seen the last of the lovable German.

More: Will Army Of The Dead 2 Happen? Everything We Know

Source: TheFilmJunkee