The delay between Zombieland films links directly to Deadpool, according to Jesse Eisenberg
Zombieland: Double Tap arrives a decade after the original film, which may have felt especially lengthy if you were a fan of its popular predecessor. If you were looking for someone or something to blame for the delay, Jesse Eisenberg brings great news: You are now free to blame Deadpool.
The franchise’s star made an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon to promote the upcoming sequel, which premieres in theaters next Friday, October 18. Per Eisenberg, the cast—himself, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin, mainly—were ready to square off with the undead shortly after the first film. But if they were going to attempt a sequel, they wanted to bring back everyone, including writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. “We were all waiting for the best script,” said Eisenberg. “In the meantime, the two writers, Reese and Paul Wernick, did Deadpool [1 & 2], and then we were kind of waiting on them to finish that so that they could write this.” Eisenberg goes on to describe the working relationship between the cast and crew as “ideal” and promises that Zombieland’s newest arrival, Zoey Deutch, is quite hilarious, which we’re prepared to believe considering that she was easily the best component of Netflix’s The Politician.
In Zombieland: Double Tap, practiced zombie slayers Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita and Little Rock have to fight off newly evolved versions of the dead while juggling drama within their makeshift family. Along the way they run into curious new survivors, bigger threats, and cigars “left over from the Clinton administration,” because the Lewinsky scandal well still hasn’t run dry somehow.
Check out the full clip below, which also features Fallon admitting that he was out of his league during his time on SNL (not that it jeopardized his career or anything).