Zack Snyder's 'Army Of The Dead' Prequel Movie Has Already Wrapped Filming

Zack Snyder's zombie heist film Army of the Dead is set to debut on Netflix sometime in 2021, but before a trailer has even been released for that project, production has already wrapped on an Army of the Dead prequel movie. Snyder recently shared a set photo featuring the cast of the prequel film, and you can see it below.

That's a wrap on Army of the Dead: The Prequel. Thanks to all the cast & crew and Netflix #armyofthedead #aotd pic.twitter.com/GvwAKVyjse

— Zack Snyder (@ZackSnyder) December 22, 2020

Back in September, Netflix gave the greenlight to Army of the Dead: The Prequel, a feature film that takes place before the events of Snyder's Las Vegas-set zombie heist movie, and Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, an anime series that will also expand on the world Snyder created in his yet-to-be-released first film. Now, less than three months after that prequel film was announced, it has already finished filming in Germany, where the coronavirus pandemic has been far more contained than it has in the United States.

This prequel movie is produced by Snyder, but he was presumably too busy putting the final touches on his much-hyped "Snyder Cut" of Justice League to direct it. Instead, this one is written and directed by Matthias Schweighöfer, one of the actors from Army of the Dead who is reprising his role as Ludwig Dieter here. Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones, Furious 7) also stars, though she doesn't appear to be a part of Snyder's film.

Army of the Dead is a passion project for Snyder, who has been trying to get it made for more than ten years. The movie is set in Las Vegas after a zombie outbreak has occurred, and it follows "a group of mercenaries [who] take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted." It's something of a spiritual sequel to Dawn of the Dead, Snyder's well-received 2004 remake of George Romero's zombie classic – but whereas that film is actually relatively restrained compared to the rest of Snyder's filmography, this one seems likely to be an unhinged version of everything Snyder thinks is cool. "There are no handcuffs on me at all with this one," he once said about the film. "It will be the most kick-ass, self-aware — but not in a wink-to-the-camera way — balls-to-the-wall zombie freakshow that anyone has ever seen. No one's ever let me completely loose [like this]."

Whether that level of creative freedom is a good thing for this particular filmmaker and this particular story remains to be seen, but we'll see the fruits of all of this labor sometime in 2021. There's no word yet on when the prequel movie will debut, but I expect it won't be too far behind and I wouldn't even be surprised to see a simultaneous release.