Zack Snyder explains why there aren’t more zombies in Army of Thieves: ‘It’s a genre-busting franchise’
The Army of the Dead sequel keeps the undead in the background.
When Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead arrived on Netflix earlier this year, we were delighted to see that it was every bit the fun and insane zombie thrill ride we were hoping it would be.
And it was such a big hit for the streamer that more stories set in the world were soon announced – including the upcoming Army of Thieves.
What is surprising though is that, despite this very much being a franchise where zombies have risen to eat us all, this latest movie is not focused on the undead that much, or even at all.
The prequel features Matthias Schweighöfer in the Army of Thieves cast, who reprises the role of safe cracker Ludwig Dieter. The film has been billed as a heist romantic comedy film, with Schweighöfer also taking his seat in the director's chair.
While the outbreak is indeed happening during the events of Army of Thieves, our characters, who are played by the likes of Nathalie Emmanuel, Ruby O. Fee and Guz Khan, will be too busy with their heist to pay much mind to the zombie apocalypse.
Franchise creator and Army of Thieves producer Zack Snyder explained this decision while speaking to Radio Times.com and other press.
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He said: "I thought it was natural to the story and natural to Matthias’s character and frankly to our preconceived notions about it being more of a genre-busting franchise than necessarily a zombie franchise right out of the box.
"I love genre and so deconstructing genre is one of my favourite things to do. I felt like this kind of heist romantic comedy was another amazing trope-filled universe that we just wanted to go and explore."
While taking out the undead must be fun for the actors, the cast were happy with the choice to scale them back. "The main thing that drew me in was the fact that I was expecting a zombie movie and it was actually a heist movie," said Nathalie Emmanuel. "That was a really interesting choice to do that and it was exciting."
Ruby O. Fee added "I was so excited to be a part of the whole Zack Snyder universe and the story is amazing. It’s not zombies but it’s safes and heists, the whole crew together, and also playing with Nat and with Matthias directing was amazing."
If that hasn't given you enough of a feel for the movie, you can read our Army of Thieves review here.
Army of Thieves is set to land on Netflix on Friday, 29th October. While you're waiting, check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
