Rule #56: There are SPOILERS ahead so don’t read this until you’ve seen Zombieland: Double Tap.
After finally delivering a sequel to 2009’s Zombieland after a decade of false starts, you might think that director Ruben Fleischer would be content to leave the zombie-infested wasteland behind for good. But thankfully, that’s not the case and following the recent release of the incredibly fun Zombieland: Double Tap, Ruben Fleischer actually has an idea for a potential spinoff that would focus on one of the sequel’s new characters. Ruben Fleischer explained his idea, saying:
I would love to do a Madison standalone movie. So, I think that story remains to be written. That would be a fun thing to go find out. That actually would’ve been a good post-credit scene where those two [Madison and Berkeley] are in Babylon just being pretty dumb together.
Yes please. Ruben Fleischer’s idea for a Zombieland spinoff is to follow Madison, the bubbly, beautiful and charmingly stupid character introduced in the sequel film and portrayed by actress Zoey Deutch. The director believes that there is still more story to tell with Madison and therefore the potential is there to give the character her very own standalone spinoff movie.
Ruben Fleischer sounds particularly keen on the idea and thinks it would be fun to explore a Madison story. He even muses that a sample of such a spinoff film would have made for a good post-credit scene in Zombieland: Double Tap. The sequel film already has a pretty great post-credits scene, but the pitch for a Madison post-credits scene and what it could mean for a potential spinoff is a neat idea.
As he tells The Hollywood Reporter, Ruben Fleischer envisions a post-credit scene with Madison and Avan Jogia’s Berkeley, which would have taken place after the events of the film. Madison was Columbus’s rebound when Wichita took off but after Columbus and Wichita get back together at film’s end, this leaves Madison without somebody. Fortunately, Little Rock dumps Berkeley so Berkeley and Madison end up hooking up.
The post-credit scene would have seen these two fools, who miraculously survived the zombie apocalypse to this point, in the hippie community of Babylon just doing dumb stuff. Ruben Fleischer doesn’t say if that’s the idea he has for a Madison standalone movie, but that could theoretically be a good jumping off point to tell more of her story.
Zombieland: Double Tap is one of those exceedingly rare comedy sequels that is actually good. It performed admirably at the box office in its opening weekend as well so hopefully this isn’t the last we’ve seen of this series. It might take another decade to get a proper Zombieland 3, but a spinoff would be a fun way to continue the franchise and following Zoey Deutch’s Madison is a great idea.
Madison was an absolute scene-stealer in Zombieland: Double Tap. Despite being the kind of ditzy blonde character archetype that might be annoying, she wound up being positively hilarious and loveable. It would be great to see more of her and as we know from the existing films, the Zombieland franchise is open to flashbacks and cutaways, so maybe we could find out more about her life before Zombieland and how exactly she wound up in that freezer.
The only thing I wonder about with a Madison spinoff, especially if it’s a movie with her and Berkeley, is if you would need a straight man type character in there to balance things out. Part of what made Madison so funny was how Tallahassee, Wichita and Columbus reacted to her.
Zombieland: Double Tap is now playing. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see what other movies are headed to theaters this year.
