Paramount has closed deals for Brad Pitt to reprise his role as Gerry Lane and for Edward Berger — director of “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Conclave” — to direct “World War Z 2.” Dennis Kelly is writing the screenplay, with Pitt producing alongside Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner through Plan B Entertainment. No release date or plot details have been announced.
For over a decade, “World War Z 2” existed in that particular Hollywood purgatory reserved for sequels everyone talks about and nobody actually makes. That’s finally changing.
The Deal That Finally Happened
Paramount has closed deals locking in both Brad Pitt as star and Edward Berger as director for the long-gestating sequel. Pitt will produce through Plan B Entertainment alongside Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, with Berger also serving as an executive producer. Dennis Kelly — known for creating the British series “Utopia” and writing “Matilda the Musical” — is penning the screenplay. Plot details remain entirely under wraps.
How Pitt and Berger Ended Up Working Together
The connection that made this happen didn’t start in a studio boardroom — it started on a film set. Pitt and Berger recently worked together on the A24 psychological thriller “The Riders,” currently in post-production, and according to Deadline, Pitt began pitching Berger on “World War Z 2” during that shoot. By the time production wrapped, Berger was on board, and Paramount closed the deals with both of them shortly after.
Berger brings a résumé built on large-scale, intense storytelling to the project — most notably the visceral war sequences in “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which won four Academy Awards, including Best International Feature. His other credits include “Conclave,” along with the television series “Patrick Melrose” and “The Terror.”
A Sequel With a Surprisingly Complicated History
This isn’t the first time “World War Z 2” has come this close to happening. J.A. Bayona was originally attached to direct, spending roughly a year developing the project before departing amid reported struggles to settle on a story, despite having major set pieces in mind. He went on to direct “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” instead.
David Fincher came aboard next, and for a while, the sequel looked like a genuine reality — complete with enthusiastic support from the original cast. Mireille Enos, who played Karin Lane in the first film, was set to return and later described the script as “beautiful.” But Paramount ultimately scrapped Fincher’s version over budget concerns, just months before filming was set to begin.
Fincher later said he was actually relieved the film didn’t happen. He explained that his version shared notable similarities with HBO’s “The Last of Us,” particularly in its approach to a zombie-adjacent apocalypse built around a parasitic organism — and he believed “The Last of Us” had more room to explore those ideas as a television series than his film would have had as a single feature.
Through all of it, Pitt reportedly never lost interest in getting another “World War Z” movie made.
Why the Sequel Is Moving Again Now
The renewed momentum traces back to a push from Paramount’s current leadership. Deadline reports that Paramount Pictures co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg identified “World War Z 2” as a high priority earlier this year, under the studio’s new leadership following the Skydance acquisition. Skydance — which played a significant role in getting the original film made — is involved in the renewed effort as well, with founder David Ellison sharing Pitt’s enthusiasm for finally moving the sequel forward.
What We Know About the Story So Far
The original “World War Z,” directed by Marc Forster and loosely inspired by Max Brooks’ 2006 novel “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War,” became a surprise global hit in 2013, grossing more than $540 million worldwide and standing as one of the highest-grossing zombie films ever made. It followed former UN investigator Gerry Lane racing around the world to find a way to stop a rapidly spreading pandemic, ultimately discovering that a specific vaccination could render people invisible to the infected.
Whether the sequel picks up directly from that ending, expands the universe in a new direction, or charts an entirely different course hasn’t been revealed. No release date has been set.
What is clear: after years of false starts, cancelled versions, and near-misses, “World War Z 2” finally has its original star, a celebrated director, and a screenwriter attached — the most concrete progress the long-rumored sequel has made in over a decade.
