David Fincher’s “World War Z 2” was written in the stars for a long time until it was finally taken off the table completely in 2019. Now the director has revealed that, in hindsight, he is extremely happy about it.
Ten years have now passed since Marc Forster’s zombie blockbuster “World War Z” was released. The film, which stars Brad Pitt, is based on the post-apocalyptic novel “Operation Zombie: Whoever Lives Longer Dies Later” by Max Brooks, which you can order here on Amazon. Originally, “World War Z” was supposed to mark the beginning of a film trilogy. In 2016, the sequel was directed by “Fight Club” director David Fincher.
Fincher worked on the project for three years until it was officially canceled in 2019. In an interview with GQ UK, the director now confessed that he is very happy that his “World War Z” sequel never saw the light of day in the end. The reason for this was the successful HBO series “The Last of Us“:
“Well, [our idea for the sequel] was a bit like ‘The Last of Us’. I’m glad we didn’t do that because ‘The Last of Us’ has a lot more room to explore the same things.”
“World War Z 2” would probably be in the shadow of “The Last of Us” today
Fincher spoke about other similarities that his “World War Z” sequel would have had to “The Last of Us” in retrospect:
“In our title sequence, we wanted to use the little parasite… [On ‘The Last of Us’] they used it in their title sequence and in that wonderful opening with the Dick Cavett and David Frost-type talk show.”
It’s possible that Fincher’s sequel would have also depicted a similar father-daughter type relationship between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey); Pitt would likely have slipped back into his “World War Z” role for Fincher’s sequel, not least as he was one of the producers of the first installment. “The Last of Us” received all kinds of praise – even from Steven Spielberg (via IndieWire) – precisely because of this father-daughter constellation and other emotional, complex relationships.
When asked whether his sequel would have been based more closely on the original book, Fincher replied as follows:
“No, no. But there are rumors that it’s still being made.”
A “World War Z” sequel can, therefore not be completely ruled out, even if it is not by Fincher.
“World War Z” is currently available on several streaming services with a respective membership: Paramount+, WOW, the Amazon Prime Video Channels Paramount+ and FILMTASTIC as well as Netflix currently offer the movie for streaming.
