While slated as the sequel to Brad Pitt’s World War Z, World War Z 2 was never fully realized. After years of waiting, it was officially canceled in 2019, leaving the movie franchise buried. The cancelation was a surprise, considering that the original had become the highest-grossing zombie movie of all time domestically with its $202 million take at the box office. It left Pitt to move on to other projects, including Bullet Train, Babylon and The Lost City, and slated director David Fincher to do the same.
Pitt may have moved on easily, but the mystery behind World War Z 2’s cancelation remains. With such a highly successful predecessor, it is rare for a studio to cancel a sequel so abruptly. Although fans don’t know much about what the movie would have been about, what is publicly available is certainly worth consideration. Additionally, other avenues the franchise can still take to continue exploring the fascinating world that World War Z set up is worth considering.
Updated on April 11, 2025, by Natasha Elder: World War Z was a fantastic entry into the zombie genre, and many were excited to hear about a sequel. The resulting disappointment following the sequel’s cancellation was unsurprising. This article is updated with more details about the potential sequel, why the studio canceled it, other options for the franchise to continue, and to reflect CBR’s current style guide.
Was World War Z 2 Ever Confirmed?
A World War Z Sequel Was In Development, So What Happened?
World War Z was meant to be the start of a trilogy, but it never came to be. World War Z 2 was originally slated to start filming in March 2019 and was meant to be shot in Atlanta, Spain, Thailand, and other settings. Unfortunately, the start of production was delayed until the summer, before it was abruptly canceled in early 2019. It already had a lead actor and director lined up, which made the cancelation all the more surprising. The original World War Z had extensive reshoots, which undoubtedly contributed to the decision to cancel the project.
Paramount, the studio that would have financed World War Z 2, instead chose to focus its budget on its other movies, including the Mission: Impossible franchise. While Paramount had no way of knowing, the decision prevented a coming disaster. Even if the movie had begun filming in the summer of 2019, potential reshoots and scheduling issues would have meant it would be released in the summer, as its predecessor did. Summer 2020 was a terrible time for the box office, given the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some movies may have defied box office expectations, but World War Z 2 would have needed another delay to prevent a massive bomb.
What Would the World War Z 2 Cast and Crew Have Looked Like?
Brad Pitt Was Confirmed For World War Z 2
Brad Pitt would’ve returned to the lead role, slated to return for the sequel. As a producer of the original World War Z, he was likely to reprise the role of Gerry Lane. Mireille Enos, who played Pitt’s wife, Karen, also likely would have appeared in the sequel, given the original’s ending: Gerry lands on the Oregonian shore determined to rescue his Karen. The rest of the cast remains a mystery, thanks to the abrupt cancelation.
Alongside Pitt, thriller veteran David Fincher was set to direct World War Z 2, though he has since expressed that he was happy that it was never fully developed and released. He would have replaced the original director, Marc Forster. He was not the first choice, as director J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) was originally tapped for the position. Fincher is an experienced director, having worked on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network, and Zodiac. He also worked on the acclaimed show House of Cards. Still, the action-packed zombie movie would have been a change of pace for him, bringing Fincher back to his horror roots: the director’s debut feature was Alien³, released in 1992.
What Was World War Z 2 About?
World War Z 2's Plot Was Never Confirmed, But David Fincher Revealed His Idea
Many zombie movies have tragic conclusions that spell out decades of suffering ahead, but World War Z ended on a hopeful note. After Pitt’s Gerry Lane developed a vaccine against the infection, the world looked like it could swiftly return to a semi-normal state. He reunited with his family, and the efforts to push back the zombies were already underway — as was preventative vaccination. Humanity finally stood a fighting chance, and the end of the war was already in sight.
A follow-up movie would likely have explored the aftermath of the vaccine’s discovery. Lane’s efforts to vaccinate the entire human race, while still pushing back the infected, would have led to equally intense action scenes, while also offering more insight into the diplomatic state of the post-World War Z world. Max Brook’s World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, which inspired the first movie, is an in-depth exploration of how different countries would react to the infection. The movie showed some of those elements but never goes into detail the way that the book does.
Lane could have continued to travel around the world, and he would have encountered the survivors desperately trying to push back against the horde. The sequel would have been similar to The Last of Us, according to Fincher, which primarily deals with issues regarding the ethics of vaccine development and human connection. Lane’s relationship with his family would surely have been put under stress by his efforts to save the rest of the human race. With World War Z focusing on a desperate fight to survive, World War Z 2 would have primarily focused on humanity’s first major offensive against the infected hordes.
Why Was World War Z 2 Canceled?
World War Z Wasn't a Box Office Hit
Approving a sequel to World War Z was a questionable idea from the start. World War Z 2 would have been a follow-up to a movie that was only mildly profitable. Generally, Hollywood movies need to secure a box office return that is two and a half times the overall budget, due to distribution and marketing costs. With a budget of $190 million, World War Z needed to secure $475 million to begin breaking even. The movie made about $65 million over that threshold, which was a success, but it paled in comparison to other big-budget movies, like 2013’s billion-dollar hits, Iron Man 3, and Frozen. However, the circumstances surely weren’t favorable. The movie in question is a PG-13 horror movie selling an original story, competing against two market giants in the year’s most competitive theatrical window, Pixar and Marvel.
Given the scenario, World War Z‘s box office performance is impressive. Another issue is that World War Z 2 largely missed its window. By the time it was canceled in 2019, the movie was already six years past World War Z‘s original release. Even the inspiration for the series, Max Brook’s book, has been waning in popularity since its 2013 release. The original movie benefited from a major desire for zombie-related media. After all, the game The Last of Us was released that same year and The Walking Dead was still at the height of its cultural significance, as the show first premiered in 2010 and was awaiting its fourth season when World War Z was released.
A follow-up sequel would also be a difficult prospect, given that Pitt’s Gerry Lane discovered the cure for the infection at the end of the first movie. As unique as World War Z‘s zombies are, there is no need to explore them in another movie solely dedicated to cleaning up after the infection that Lane already solved. World War Z 2 is unlikely to be revived, as Brad Pitt and David Fincher have moved on to other projects. If it ever does return to screens, it would likely need to be a reboot, rather than a continuation.
Why It's A Great Time to Give World War Z 2 Another Chance
Recent Film Trends Make Today a Perfect Time to Continue the Story of World War Z
It’s safe to say, now, that Fincher’s creative vision had the potential to shake up the zombie genre with World War Z 2, for that’s exactly what The Last of Us did when it came out in 2023. A high-concept, dramatically charged, and action-packed zombie story that goes way beyond the threat of flesh-eating creatures. When Fincher said that his idea for a World War Z sequel had a lot in common with The Last of Us, he probably meant that it wasn’t a conventional survival story. It was more about the reason to survive.
A common trend in current zombie-related productions is exploring the world beyond, most specifically, the rebuilding process. There’s no shortage of great zombie movies and fantastic zombie TV shows that detail the beginning of a global-scale apocalypse, or more commonly, the aftermath of a collapsed world. But what comes next? The Walking Dead seemed eager to answer this question in its final episodes, rejecting a closed series finale to, instead, set the path for multiple spin-offs — a string of TV shows following everyone’s favorite characters contemplating humanity starting anew.
The renewing world of The Walking Dead, added to the success of The Last of Us, set 20 years after Earth came to ruin, shows that World War Z 2 has everything to survive in the current state of the zombie genre. Zombie fans finally seem to acknowledge that the biggest threat of a zombie apocalypse isn’t necessarily the zombies but rather adjusting to the new reality they force upon humanity. Adaptation is the key, and it’s an equally thrilling process. It helps that the zombies in World War Z are so terrifying, given how smart and agile they are, and that the movie sees beyond an individualist, American goal.
No, the «World War» in the title is there for a reason. It’s the perfect formula for an even more ambitious, action-packed zombie story. Avatar: The Way of Water has recently proved that theatrical windows don’t matter when the studio and the producers are confident in a project. In addition, World War Z‘s Paramount has struck gold at the box office with Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, another sequel no one saw coming. Maybe Paramount is getting ready for another risky business. Fincher might not agree to return after World War Z 2, but with another talented director on board, it’s a great time for this sequel to see the light of day.
Would World War Z 2 Work Better as a Limited Series?
Limited Series Have Seen Some Success In Recent Years
While fans of the underrated zombie movie have spent years campaigning for a sequel, World War Z may have a better future as a limited series rather than another film. Hollywood has gone in an interesting direction since World War Z was released in 2013, with streaming becoming a major new way for studios and franchises to tell new stories. Limited series have become a staple of streamers, filling out major franchises like Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DCU, and more. Even some defunct franchises have found new life with limited series sequels, including National Treasure, The Santa Clause and more. With many moviegoers now criticizing studios for rushing movies, resulting in subpar scripts and incomplete graphics, some limited series have been better received than their predecessors, making the format a viable storytelling medium moving forward.
As a limited series, there would be less pressure on a World War Z sequel to perform well at the box office. A major drawback of the original film was the stiff competition based on established IP that cornered World War Z at the box office. A limited series doesn’t need to compete with other shows in the same way and could grow its following through multiple episodes. Furthermore, a full season of storytelling would allow World War Z to flesh out its post-apocalyptic world in greater detail rather than cramming everything into a single 2-hour movie. Even long-running shows with hundreds of well-written episodes like The Walking Dead, have embraced the limited series format, producing one-off stories like The Ones Who Live to tell a tight story that delivers on all of its promises in only a handful of episodes. For a franchise that is popular but not financially successful, the limited series route may be the best path forward for World War Z.
What Could a Sequel Series or Movie Look Like?
A Post-Pandemic World Would Have Even More Similarities to World War Z's Themes
In contrast to the disappointing cancellation of the World War Z sequel in 2019, a video game based on the film debuted the same year. This original game allows fans to further engage in the world, an experience that was enhanced in 2021 when World War Z: Aftermath was released. However, these fun zombie co-op games seemingly take place during the same time as the World War Z film as players fight off hordes of zombies. Although it’s cool that up to 1,000 zombies can appear on-screen simultaneously, and each «level» features separate sets of four unique characters, it ultimately doesn’t offer much commentary.
A sequel to World War Z, whether a show or a movie, would do well to have more substance than the games do. The original film has many themes revolving around inadequate responses to viral diseases, reactionary populations, and social collapse. A series or sequel that follows should naturally focus on society’s recovery as a vaccine is spread and how to deal with those already turned.
Such a sequel should focus on multiple locations worldwide as humanity implements the vaccine discovered at the end of the first movie. Figuring out how to solidify efforts in such a destroyed society would create plenty of tense moments, as well as opportunities for zombies to attack those who haven’t received the vaccine yet. Thus, the sequel could be a mix of intense drama and exciting action as the main characters try to restructure a devastated world. With an emphasis on well-developed characters and worldbuilding, a sequel could have a lot to offer.
Additionally, while a sequel to World War Z would have been interesting at the time of its initial release, adding to the story in a post-pandemic world would be even more so. There is certainly a lot to say about the variety of responses to pandemics, vaccinations and government-mandated responses to illness. A follow-up to the original World War Z film could explore these elements in a way that highlights the complications in resolving such a situation in the real world.
