By: John M Jerva

It’s no secret that I’m eagerly awaiting next year and the release of Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead which features the favorite Dave Bautista as a mercenary who assembles a team to penetrate a zombie quarantined zone in order to pull of a daring heist. Sounds like action gold to me and it appears that Netflix agrees as word has it that the film, which hasn’t even been released yet, is now a franchise with as a prequel and anime series have been ordered to accompany Snyder’s film.

Army of the Dead centers on a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, where a man assembles a group of mercenaries to take the ultimate gamble: venturing into the quarantined zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted. Aside from Bautista, the movie also stars Ella Purnell, Ana De La Reguera, Huma Qureshi, Raúl Castillo, Omari Hardwick, Tig Notaro (who replaced Chris D’Elia in reshoots), Hiroyuki Sanada, Nora Arnezeder, Rich Cetrone, Garret Dillahunt, Samantha Win, and Matthias Schweighöfer.

The news comes out of Variety as they are saying that the prequel will focus on Matthias Schweighöfer’s character of Ludwig and it appears he will also direct it. No other details are known about the prequel however at this time except that it will be more international in nature.

The Anime series sounds very intriguing and it will be called Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas and will serve as an “origin story” and will center on “Bautista’s character and his rescue crew during the initial fall of Vegas as they confront the mysterious source of the zombie outbreak.”

Cooler yet, Snyder is confirmed to be also helming two of the episodes in the series and talked about the excitement of his project becoming a franchise.

“I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity to partner with Netflix again as we expand the Army of the Dead universe with both an international prequel, as well as exploring the visually dynamic world of animation. It’s been a great collaboration and we are thrilled that Netflix sees this as big of an IP as we do.”

This news makes me even more excited for the film itself and while we have to wait a little longer now for the release due to you know what, I think it will be worth it as Netflix has been crushing it with their original action movies. After all, it has Dave Bautista in it so that right there is worth the price of admission alone. Keep it locked and loaded right here for more as we are your destination for everything action!