Is Army of the Dead a sequel to Dawn of the Dead?

While many Snyder fans would have no doubt loved to see the world of his Dawn of the Dead be revisited, the director has said firmly that his latest zombie epic is completely unconnected.

Speaking of the similar titles, he explained to Screen Rant that this is purely an homage to the many zombie films that have used "of the Dead" in their titles, stretching far beyond George A Romero's highly influential series.

Snyder said: "People have asked me, ‘Is this a sequel?’ I'm like, ‘No. It's a zombie movie.’ And they're like, ‘What does that mean?’ And I'm like, ‘It’s ‘of the dead. It’s something of the dead. It just happens to be an army.’"

While Army of the Dead is no sequel to 2004's Dawn in its finished form on Netflix, the publication went on to ask whether it was originally conceived as a follow-up back when it was first announced in 2007.

"No, no," said Snyder. "I developed it right after Dawn, but not as a sequel. I wanted to do this other evolution in it of the zombies, so I needed another trope.

"I needed another origin story in order to make this other thing work, so I was like, ‘OK, it can live in its own universe.’ And now we're building this universe like nuts, so we'll see."

The universe building Snyder mentions is a reference to the two Army of the Dead spin-offs currently in production, while speculation is already rampant that Army of the Dead 2 could well happen in the near future.

Available to stream on Netflix right now, Snyder's first entry in this budding franchise picks up in a post-apocalyptic future where humans have won a war against zombies and quarantined the undead population to Las Vegas.

Mere days before the city is due to be nuked by the US government, a mercenary is sent in with a hand-picked squad to retrieve a cash fortune from a casino vault.

The Army of the Dead cast includes Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Ella Purnell (Belgravia), Omari Hardwick (Power) and Ana de la Reguera (Goliath), among many others.

If you've already watched the movie, you should check out our Army of the Dead ending explainer for some detailed analysis of the final scenes.

Army of the Dead is streaming now on Netflix. Check out our guides to the best movies on Netflix and the best series on Netflix.

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