The Army of the Dead universe gets that little bit bigger on Friday when prequel Army of Thieves comes to Netflix, with fan-favorite Dieter taking center stage in a lighter and breezier heist caper that takes place six years before the events of Zack Snyder’s smash hit apocalyptic blockbuster.
Expectations are high for Thieves, which comes just five months after Army became one of the streamer’s ten most-watched original movies ever, and it’s only the beginning of the entire universe. Not only is the animated series Lost Vegas scheduled for spring 2022, but a direct sequel to Army of the Dead was placed into development following the announcement of Snyder’s development deal with Netflix.
In an interview with Inverse, the filmmaker addressed the potential return of Dieter in the second installment after he was seemingly torn to shreds by Alpha zombie Zeus, and also revealed the title of the next chapter for good measure.
“But the real adventure would be to see what happened to him when that safe door closed. Did he get killed by Zeus or not? What happened? We don’t see him die on camera, and there’s still some time left. I won’t tell you what happens in Army of the Dead 2, aka Planet of the Dead, but let’s just say that there’s a chance Dieter survives. And there’s a chance that brush with death would have caused him to want to find a jailed Gwendoline.”
Planet of the Dead opens up all sorts of intriguing possibilities, never mind the teases of Area 51, cybernetic undead and time loops that were hinted at throughout Army. Knowing how Snyder’s mind works, the scale was always going to get bigger next time out, and it looks as though we’ll be seeing the zombie uprising unfold on a truly global scale.