The original Zombieland came out way back in 2009—just after a plucky young kid named Barack Obama became the President but long before real undead monsters destroyed much of modern civilization—and Sony has been trying to get a sequel going ever since. After all, Zombieland was surprisingly successful, and nearly its entire cast—including a pre-Social Network Jesse Eisenberg and a pre-Harrelsonaissance Woody Harrelson—have quickly become significantly more famous in the years since. However, for reasons that can’t be determined by The A.V. Club’s robust search function, the sequel never happened.
Sony eventually shelved it in favor of making a TV show instead, but after years of networks not wanting to make it into a TV show, Sony finally brought the pilot to Amazon. That way, the diehard fans who really wanted to see a Zombieland sequel would be able to help decide if it should become a series. But, in the words of co-creator Rhett Reese, the fans “hated it out of existence” and Amazon canceled it.
It seemed like that would be it for the continuation of the Zombieland story, but now the sequel might be getting another chance at life. It’s a bit of news that’s perfectly suited for some kind of tired zombie gag about the movie “rising from its grave” or whatever, but we won’t make a joke that stupid and obvious. We’re above that. Anyway, this comes from Deadline, which reports that Sony is very, very slowly ramping up production of Zombieland 2 by hiring Expendables writer Dave Callaham to put a script together. Ruben Fleischer, who directed the original, is apparently set to return, but the studio hasn’t officially made any deals with him yet. That means it might not happen, but it still might happen. As far as a Zombieland sequel goes, that’s really all we can hope for. Either way, a guy is writing it now.