As Zack Snyder's latest film series continues to grow, Army of Thieves star Nathalie Emmanuel teases her potential franchise return. The 2021 heist comedy served as a prequel to Snyder's Army of the Dead and centered on Matthias Schweighöfer's Dieter in the early days of the zombie outbreak in Nevada who has dreams of becoming renowned for his safecracking skills. Dieter finds his dreams come true as he is recruited by Emmanuel's mysterious Gwendoline for a heist to crack three safes i three different banks, all of which were created by a legendary locksmith, though as the job gets hairy, begins to question if it's truly the life for him.
Alongside Emmanuel and Schweighöfer, who also directed the Army of the Dead prequel, the cast for Army of Thieves included Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin, Guz Khan and Johnathan Cohehn. Snyder drafted the story concept for the film with Shay Hatten, who co-wrote Army of the Dead with Snyder and Obi-Wan Kenobi's Joby Harold, penning the script for the heist comedy. Having premiered on Netflix in late 2021, Army of Thieves scored mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, with praise directed towards Schweighöfer and Emmanuel's performances, the former's direction, and the lighter tone in comparison to Army of the Dead, while criticism was aimed towards its plot, and now one star is sharing their thoughts on a possible return.
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss her role in the horror movie The Invitation, Nathalie Emmanuel opened up about her potential Army of the Dead franchise return. The Army of Thieves star confirmed her interest in returning to Zack Snyder's Netflix movie universe, and while noting she doesn't know of any concrete details, she has heard "whispers about future things." See what Emmanuel shared below:
I don’t know anything about the future of those characters. I mean, I’ve heard whispers about future things, but I couldn’t tell you anything concrete about what is going to happen, if anything is going to happen. But I completely agree that it would be really fun for those two to reunite. The journey of their story was just really fun, especially from Gwen’s point of view. She goes from being highly irritated by this man to sort of falling in love with him. (Laughs.) Their whole chemistry was so great, and I’d love to do it again. So hopefully, we get to.
The door for Emmanuel's return to the Army of the Dead franchise is very wide open, as Army of Thieves ended with Gwendoline sacrificing herself to be arrested to allow Dieter to escape, with the promise she would find him once she was free. With Snyder and Netflix eager to expand the zombie-based universe, the timeline for the movies has been kept mostly vague, with Army of Thieves seemingly taking place roughly five years before the original movie. Given the scale of Gwendoline's crimes in the heist comedy and Schweighöfer's character changing his name from Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert to Ludwig Dieter, it's understandable she may not have been released from prison by the time of Army of the Dead's events or known where he was.
Despite the chances of his survival being low, audiences have continued to debate Dieter's potential survival at the end of Army of the Dead. Snyder himself has hinted that Dieter not only survived his near-death experience, but that his encounter with Zeus would inspire him to reunite with a "jailed Gwendoline" for the in-development Army of the Dead 2, seemingly in line with Emmanuel's tease of hearing "whispers of future things." While audiences await word on her possible return, they can revisit Nathalie Emmanuel's well-received turn as Gwendoline with Army of Thieves streaming on Netflix now.
Source: THR