Like any self-respecting zombie movie, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead started with a sprawling cast before whittling its number down one by one, and given what happened to Omari Hardwick’s Vanderohe in the credits scene, Ella Purnell’s Kate Ward was the only one left standing by the time the credits rolled.
Of course, that’s not to say the sequel couldn’t feature any number of flashbacks to rope in a few familiar faces, or even explore the time loop theory that was teased in the opener but never fully explored. Snyder loves to throw everything plus the kitchen sink at his movies, so don’t be surprised if the next installment in the Army of the Dead universe leans on alternate timelines, robot zombies, aliens and more to power the story.
Prequel Army of Thieves hits Netflix on Friday, but audiences will be fully aware that Dieter didn’t make it out of Army alive. Or did he? Speaking to Inverse, Snyder teased that Matthias Schweighöfer’s scene-stealing safecracker could make a surprise comeback, while he also unveiled the movie’s working title.
“Clearly, he’s used his money to open a locksmith shop wherever he is — Barstow or San Bernandino. I don’t know that he’s done a ton other than [accrue] a clientele. He certainly has a lot of confidence in his ability to [install] locks on their back porches. 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.”
Army of Thieves is generating similar reactions to its predecessor, so continuity or common sense be damned; if Snyder wants to bring Dieter back for his Army of the Dead sequel, then nobody’s going to stand in his way.