There are multiple directions in which Zack Snyder can take his zombie franchise following the Army of the Dead ending, but before the visionary filmmaker looks toward the future of the property, he’s going back to how it all began for the major players in the 2021 Netflix zombie-heist spectacle with two exciting spinoffs. On one hand you have Army of Thieves, an international crime adventure in the vein of The Italian Job starring and directed by Matthias Schweighöfer centering on Ludwig Dieter, but today we’ll be discussing Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, an anime spinoff series showing the fall of Las Vegas.
And while there are still some things we don’t quite know about the Army of the Dead spinoff anime series, most notably its release date, we already know quite a lot about the upcoming Netflix show and what we can expect to learn from it when it eventually lands on the platform. There’s a lot to cover in a short amount of time, so let’s go back to Lost Vegas.
Dave Bautista And Other Members Of The Army Of The Dead Cast Are Returning For The Prequel Series
When Lost Vegas debuts on Netflix, the prequel series will see the return of much of the core Army of the Dead cast return, but this time they’ll be animated, as Netflix announced in late 2020. Set in the early phases of the zombie outbreak, the series will see Dave Bautista’s Scott Ward, Ella Purnell’s Kate Ward, Ana de la Reguera’s Maria Cruz, Tig Notaro’s Marianne Peters, and Omari Hardwick’s Vanderohe years before the events of Army of the Dead.
The Army Of The Dead Cast Will Also Include Joe Manganiello, Christian Slater And Vanessa Hudgens
In addition to the returning members of the Army of the Dead cast, Lost Vegas will also introduce a whole other collection of characters who are voiced by some of the biggest names in film and television, and even video games. When Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas was first announced in October 2020, Deadline reported that Joe Manganiello would be starring as Rose, though not much about his character has been revealed at this time. In addition to the Zack Snyder’s Justice League actor, the Netflix anime series will also feature the voice work of Christian Slater, Vanessa Hudgens, Harry Lennix, Ross Butler, Anya Chalotra, Jena Malone, and legendary voice-actor Nolan North.
Army Of The Dead: Lost Vegas Will Follow Scott Ward’s Team As Seen In The Army Of The Dead Opening Sequence
The new anime prequel series will serve as an origin story for Scott Ward and his team as seen in the amazingly explosive Army of the Dead opening sequence and show the team’s efforts to save as many people from the legions of zombies who have overtaken the Vegas Strip. Those who watched the movie and want to see how the infection spread like wildfire in the “City of Sin” are in for some good news as Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas will also give viewers a ground-level view of all the death and destruction, and hopefully more of Valentine the tiger.
Deborah Snyder Has Hinted That Army Of The Dead: Lost Vegas Will Shed Light On The Origin Of The Outbreak
Another thing Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas will dive into is the source of the zombie outbreak and how Zeus, the intelligent zombie who escaped from the military convoy, came to be in the first place. When speaking with IndieWire in May 2021, Deborah Snyder, who produced both the movie and anime series, revealed the show will shed light on the outbreak before talking about the team, saying:
We hint in the movie that we’re coming from Area 51, so maybe there’s a sci-fi element to it. I’m not going to say for sure, but it’s really fun to be able to do that and also to see our team when they were at the top of their game, doing the search and rescue. It’s just another bit of information.
Later in the interview, Deborah Snyder said that Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas will help fill in the cracks related to the early stages of the outbreak and Scott Ward’s team by describing the series as “a great way” to find out the origin.
Jay Oliva Is Serving As The Army Of The Dead: Lost Vegas Showrunner
Jay Oliva, who has served as a storyboard artist on everything from Thor: Ragnarok to several Zack Snyder films from Man of Steel to Army of the Dead, is serving as the Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas showrunner and will be directing two episodes, as announced by Netflix. The anime prequel series isn’t the first time Oliva has worked with the streaming giant as he is the executive producer of the Netflix anime series Trese, which debuts in June 2021.
Zack Snyder Will Be Directing Two Of Army Of The Dead: Lost Vegas’ Six Episodes
When Netflix first announced Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, it was revealed that Zack Snyder would be directing two episodes in the series, though it wasn’t initially revealed how many episodes would make the anime. In a May 2021 interview with JoBlo Celebrity Interviews, Snyder revealed Lost Vegas would consist of six episodes. The director (or directors) of the remaining two episodes has not been revealed by Netflix at this time.
Meduzarts Animation Studio, Who Worked On Recent Spider-Man And Mortal Kombat Games, Is Handling The Animation
Handling the animation for Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas is Meduzarts Animation Studio, a digital animation house that has worked with some of the biggest video game studios around including Bethesda, Blizzard, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and more, helping with games like the successful Marvel’s Spider-Man, Mortal Kombat X, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Siege.
Upon the release of Army of the Dead, the Meduzarts Animation Studio Twitter account tweeted that the team was still hard at work on Lost Vegas, but no information on the progress or how the animation will look has been revealed at this time.
There is still a lot we don’t know about Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, but all of this information is a good place to start. While we wait, there’s always the stacked 2021 summer TV schedule to hold us over.
