Army of Thieves will be “totally different” from Army of the Dead

Army of the Dead may have been Zack Snyder’s grand return to the zombie genre, but it was also the start of a new Netflix franchise. Army of Thieves will be the first Army of the Dead spinoff to arrive when it premieres on the streaming service later this year. The film will be a prequel centered around safecracker Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer), but you shouldn’t go into it expecting anything like Army of the Dead.

Matthias Schweighöfer, who also directed Army of Thieves, told Empire that the prequel will be quite different from the original. “I’m constantly talking to Zack,” Schweighöfer said “‘Okay, what could be different to Army? What is the same?’ It is part of the universe, but a totally different movie. It’s an adventurous heist movie.” Nathalie Emmanuel, who stars as Gwendoline, added that the biggest difference is the near lack of zombies.

There’s not really any zombies. We see that it’s happening somewhere else, but it’s relevant because it’s this impending potential danger for the whole world.

Army of Thieves takes place six years before the events of Army of the Dead during the early stages of the zombie outbreak. It follows Ludwig Dieter in his early days of safecracking as he’s hired by a mysterious woman to pull off a heist with the help of a misfit crew of aspiring thieves. It’s not the only Army of the Dead project in the works, as there’s also the anime spinoff series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas set to debut in spring 2022, as well as an Army of the Dead sequel. As for Army of Thieves, the prequel will debut on October 29, 2021.