George Romero's estate is moving forward with final Living Dead movie

It’s been six years since George A. Romero died, ending the career of a man who did more to make “zombies” a mainstream concept than any other artist in human history. (While also attempting, throughout his career, to use the undead as more than just a flesh-devouring prop in his frequently satirical stories.) Now, Deadline reports that Romero’s estate has secured funding to move forward on Twilight Of The Dead, the seventh and “final” movie in the series.

The Romero estate has been working on Twlight for a minute, at this point; they’ve got a treatment for the movie, written by Romero, and have talked up plans to get it turned into an actual movie since at least 2021. Now, though, Los Angeles-based Roundhouse Entertainment has signed on to provide financing for the movie, which is now set to begin filming in Puerto Rico some time in 2023.

Twilight will reportedly build on themes touched on in Romero’s final movie, 2009's Survival Of The Dead—notably, in that it’ll apparently involve zombies who’ve retained enough of their living personalities to have grudges and factions arrayed against each other. A script has now been completed, written by Joe Knetter, Robert Lucas, and Paolo Zelati. No director has been set, although producers, including Romero’s widow, Suzanne Romero, are apparently in negotiations to find someone.

Romero’s Living Dead movies had a resurgence in the 2000s, first with a high-profile remake of Dawn Of The Dead by Zack Snyder in 2004, followed by Romero’s own Land Of The Dead in 2005, which revived the series two decades after the release of 1985's Day Of The Dead.

Suzanne Romero issued a statement today, saying, “I’m delighted to be joining forces with Roundtable to bring the eerie evolution of Romero’s universe to the screen. Roundtable impressed me with their long-term and deep love of George’s work. I believe they have the vision to produce the best version of this movie that honors the Romero legacy.”