Zombieland Director Confirms Return of Original Cast for Sequel

Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer recently spoke about the comedy-horror film’s long-awaited sequel in an interview with Fandango while promoting his new comic book film Venom. Released nearly a decade ago in 2009, the film was an unexpected critical and commercial success, grossing over $100 million on a budget of just under $24 million. Since then, Zombieland has gained a cult following, regarded as one of the greatest horror films of the past decade. Since its release, rumors have swirled of a sequel. However, the movie’s stars, who were mostly unknowns prior to the film’s release, have since become A-list celebrities, making their involvement in a second film unlikely. Reports of a sequel once again gained traction early last year with news that original writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had completed writing the script for a second film.

While reports surfaced earlier this summer that Columbia Pictures had greenlit the project, Fleischer’s interview with Fandango is the first confirmation that original stars Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenburg, Woody Harrelson, and Abigail Breslin would all be reprising their roles from the original. Fleischer said that he was glad to be working with the original cast once again and that he was already in the process of location scouting and storyboarding for the film. Praising Reese and Wernick’s script, Fleischer also revealed that the film is expected to start shooting next January in Georgia, which was previously leaked in a report in Production Weekly.

A leaked plot synopsis in The Hollywood Reporter has also given insight into what the film’s ragtag group of survivors will face in the upcoming film. The entertainment news website reveals that like the original film, the sequel will focus on comic mayhem as Columbus, Wichita, Tallahassee, and Little Rock travel from the White House to America’ Heartland. Along the way, the quartet will encounter new survivors and a new type of zombie reportedly called super zombies. Most importantly, the film will show how the group’s makeshift family has grown in the land of the undead. Tentatively entitled Zombieland Too, the film currently has a release date of October 11, 2019, almost 10 years to the day of the original film’s release.