With the Halloween season upon us, so is a whole lot of horror cinema — including the highly-anticipated return of the Zombieland gang a decade after the original became a beloved bloody success. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin are all back to slash up the undead in Zombieland: Double Tap, and with lower stakes! Wait… that’s not right. Actually, it's totally the opposite.
Ahead of Zombieland: Double Tap coming in October, director Ruben Fleischer explained a new classification system that’s been created for the different types of zombies. They are perfectly pop-culture infused (probably penned by Jesse Eisenberg’s Columbus). The director explained it recently, saying,
I think our heroes are a little complacent because the zombies don’t present much of a challenge anymore. They’ve started to categorize them into different groups. There’s ones that they call Homers, who are kind of the dumber zombies. There are the Ninjas who are a little bit more crafty and they might sneak up on you. And then there’s the Hawkings, who are smarter zombies.
Amazing! These names are perfect. Considering the gang has been living in Zombieland for years, they’ve started to develop a shorthand for all the levels of threat each of the rabid undead fall into, but they can take em all! They’ve grown into experts, and zombie slaying just isn’t fun anymore! Until a more advanced “model” to say enters the scene. Fleischer revealed this to Fandango:
There’s a new kind of zombie that they haven’t met before called a T-800, a name for the infamous Terminator. These T-800s are much more dangerous, threatening form of zombie. For the first time, I think our heroes feel like they’re in true jeopardy because of this newly evolved form of zombie.
This just keeps getting better. The gang comes across a zombie that they liken to T-800s from the Terminator films. Dark Fate, who? This should make for an exciting addition for the sequel 10 years in the making. It will be fun to see our comedic heroes band up against a more threatening zombie creatures.
Following in the footsteps of the original, Zombieland: Double Tap will be rated-R and all the same creatives are behind it. Zombieland’s Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who have since gone on to both write and produce the Deadpool movies, scripted this new sequel with Godzilla’s Dave Callaham. Ruben Fleischer is also returning, coming off the heels of the big success that was last October's Venom.
Along with the return of Wichita, Little Rock, Tallahassee and Columbus, audiences will be introduced to some new characters named after hometowns. Zoey Deutch will play Madison, a peppy-in-pink type who seems to be stuck in idolization of 2009 “role models” like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Breslin’s now grown up character will find a love interest in Avan Jogia’s Berkeley and run off with him.
The story will revolve around the gang getting Little Rock back. Rosario Dawson is also playing a new character named Nevada who could be a good match for Tallahassee. Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch also play funny characters who resemble Woody and Jesse’s characters. Oh, and Bill Murray is apparently coming back.
Check out Zombieland: Double Tap when it heads to theaters on October 18th.
