Army Of The Dead: Lost Vegas: Everything We Know So Far
Never one to do things in small measures, Zack Snyder developed his zombie movie "Army of the Dead" to launch a shared universe featuring spinoffs, sequels, and prequels. The first such addition to the franchise, this past October's "Army of Thieves," revealed what the oddball safe-cracker Ludwig Dieter got up to before joining a crack team of mercenaries to break into a legendary vault stuck in the middle of zombie-overrun Las Vegas in "Army of the Dead." Snyder is also planning to make a sequel movie — titled "Planet of the Dead" — that may yet include a spot for Dieter in its story.
As for the other main characters from "Army of the Dead," many of them are coming back in an animated prequel series titled "Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas." And much like Snyder co-wrote the story for "Army of Thieves" on top of producing, he's playing a key role behind the scenes on "Lost Vegas." Here's what we know so far.
When and where to watch Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas
"Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas" will span six episodes and was expected to arrive in 2022 but has yet to set a firm release date. Among the similar genre shows that premiered on the streamer in the first eight months of 2022 are "Resident Evil" and "The Sandman," along with the most recent seasons of "The Umbrella Academy" and "Stranger Things." Other sci-fi, fantasy, and/or horror series have since been scheduled for the last four months of the year, including the anthology "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities."
It will be interesting to see how many Netflix subscribers decide to check out "Lost Vegas," whenever the series arrives. "Army of the Dead" received mixed-to-positive reviews while racking up hefty viewership numbers (according to Netflix's suspect metrics), whereas "Army of Thieves" earned a somewhat warmer critical reception and made it onto Nielsen's top streaming charts for multiple weeks (via Media Play News). The question is whether "Lost Vegas" can match their performances, granted that it's a show and not a movie.
What Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas is about
The official synopsis confirms "Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas" will chronicle what "Army of the Dead" leads Scott Ward, Maria Cruz, and the rest of their motley team got up to during "the initial fall of Vegas as they confront the mysterious source of the zombie outbreak." Zack Snyder's original movie offers a sneak peek at what to expect with its best sequence: A great opening credits montage showing characters like Scott and Maria desperately evacuating civilians as hordes of zombies overrun Vegas, culminating in the city being quarantined off from the rest of the world.
Said montage is also set to the tune of Richard Cheese and Allison Crowe's rendition of "Viva Las Vegas," which serves to underscore the tragedy beneath the showy images of undead Vegas performers being mowed down or people fleeing for their lives. I bring this up because this sequence not only takes viewers on an emotional roller coaster ride that the rest of "Army of the Dead" has trouble matching, it seems to reveal all one really needs to know about "the initial fall of Vegas." Here's hoping "Lost Vegas" proves there's a worthy story yet to be told.
What we know about the Lost Vegas crew
"Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas" was created by Jay Olivia, who is also serving as its showrunner and executive producer. Olivia got his start as a storyboard artist on animated series like "Extreme Ghostbusters" in the late 1990s and has since gone on to direct multiple DC animated feature films, many of which have been pretty well-received (like 2013's "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox"). Olivia also served as a storyboard artist on Zack Snyder's DCEU movie trilogy ("Man of Steel," "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," and "Justice League") and "Army of the Dead," as well as the MCU films "Ant-Man," "Spider-Man: Homecoming," and "Thor: Ragnarok."
Olivia and Snyder are both directing a pair of episodes of "Lost Vegas," with an as-yet-unknown director tackling the remaining two. Joining Snyder as an executive producer on the series is his "Army of the Dead" scribe Shay Hatten, who is further involved as a writer on the show.
Who is starring in Lost Vegas?
The "Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas" voice cast includes several actors from "Army of the Dead," including Dave Bautista (Scott Ward), Ana de la Reguera (Maria Cruz), Omari Hardwick (Vanderohe), Tig Notaro (Marianne Peters), and Ella Purnell (Kate Ward). Naturally, all of them will be reprising their roles from that film for the animated series.
Among the other members of the "Lost Vegas" voice cast are Anya Chalotra (who is best known for playing Yennefer on "The Witcher") and Ross Butler (who starred in "13 Reasons Why" and appears in the "Shazam!" movies). The show further reunites Zack Snyder with several actors he's worked with in the past, starting with "Sucker Punch" alums Vanessa Hudgens and Jena Malone. Also onboard are Harry Lennix and Joe Manganiello, the pair of whom starred in "Zack Snyder's Justice League" as, in turn, Lt. General Swanwick (who, as the film revealed, was secretly Martian Manhunter) and Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke.
What animation studio is working on Lost Vegas?
"Army of the Dead" is being animated by Meduzarts Animation Studio, which is based in Montreal, Canada. Although the studio now "specializes in animation for television series and movies" (to quote its website directly), it comes from a background in video game projects, many of which are fittingly tied to multimedia properties.
Among the games Meduzarts has worked on are the 2018 "Spider-Man" video game, "Injustice 2," the "Star Wars" titles "Battlefront II" and "The Force Unleashed II," the "Lord of the Rings" titles "Middle-earth: Shadow of War" and "War in the North," and "James Cameron's Avatar: The Game." Other noteworthy games from the company include "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege: Outbreak," "Assassin's Creed: Black Flag," "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim," "Just Cause 4," and "Far Cry 4."
On its Linkedin page, Meduzarts describes "Lost Vegas" as its current major project, revealing it will be "the entertainment group's third series produced in real-time on the Unreal engine."