Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead seemed to be a successful start at a new partnership between the former DC Comics auteur and Netflix. Even before the first film had premiered, talks of prequel projects like Army of Thieves hung in the air, with both that live-action film and the anime series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas being discussed as coming along sooner rather than later. Well, we now have our first look at one of those projects, as the first photos of Army of Thieves shows us a new heist adventure on the horizon. Plus the return of a beloved character through Matthias Schweighöfer’s Dieter.
Using his Twitter profile, Zack Snyder teased Dieter’s role in a past heist that we haven’t seen in the Army of the Dead universe. While there’s no zombies, there is some sharp wardrobe choices for actor/director Matthias Schweighöfer, as well as the first look at F9’s Nathalie Emmanuel, playing a character simply known as “Gwendoline.” Which, if you’re a hardcore Army of the Dead fan, means the pieces are starting to come together, courtesy of the photos shown below:
Now, if you remember when we’re introduced to Dieter in Army of the Dead, he’s recruited at Gwendoline’s Safe and Lock Company by Dave Bautista’s Scott and Ana de la Reguera’s Maria. Whether this business was named after Nathalie Emmanuel’s Army of Thieves character after a successful heist, or as a fitting tribute to a fallen comrade, we don’t quite know. That’s where the fun of a prequel comes in, as questions like those are just waiting to be answered.
Some of you might be asking just how beloved is Matthias Schweighöfer’s Dieter? Well, for starters, even Zack Snyder and his Army of the Dead talent pool knew to give the character his own prequel in Army of Thieves. But with Schweighöfer also directing his return to Netflix subscriber’s screens, that’s just even more confidence in using that character as a viable continuation of that entire universe. Should you need some more evidence, through a handy video created by Netflix themselves, check out this reel that shows off Dieter and his Army of the Dead friend Vanderohe, played by Omari Hardwick:
With such beloved figures still in play, Army of the Dead’s supposed cinematic universe can only get bigger. Which could mean that those supposed sequel talks are still on the table, even after the recent announcement that Zack Snyder has another ambitious sci-fi project set up over at Netflix, in the Star Wars/Akira Kurosawa inspired Rebel Moon. All these questions, and the potential answers, seem to hide behind that new safe door that Dieter is about to crack, so all we have to do is wait for the big day to finally arrive.
Army of Thieves will debut on Netflix, presumably at some point within 2021. Though as soon as there’s a set date, you can pretty much be assured that Zack Snyder will be making another announcement. And at that point, we’ll probably have our first trailer showcasing Dieter and his new friends taking a crack at that impressive looking safe.
