Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead will feature robot zombies

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Director Zack Snyder has made it clear that he's taking a unique approach to the zombies in his new film Army of the Dead, which will be available to watch on the Netflix streaming service as of May 21st. Not only does the trailer have some zombie tiger action, but Snyder has also revealed that there are different types of zombies in the movie. Shamblers, Alphas… and even some robot zombies.

Snyder made this intriguing "robot zombie" revelation during a Netflix Q&A: 

I had the idea from the beginning that these zombies were going to embody an evolution, that they were on their way to becoming something else, not stagnant like the zombies we're used to. It was a way to make them fresh, while still delivering the zombie canon in some ways. I really wanted this sort of weird ambiguity to their origins – which, of course, we'll explore in the animated series [Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas]. And without giving away too much… if you pay close attention, there's a number of zombies that are clearly not zombies. You see normal zombies and then you see some robot zombies. Are they monitors that the government has placed among the zombies to monitor them? Are they technology from the other world? What's happening there?"

As for the Alphas and Shamblers, Snyder has said, 

Always in this concept, it was this idea that we would evolve the zombies or there would be a hierarchy, there would be some sort of [organization]. You'll learn in the movie the 'why' of it because it's very specific about why certain zombies are 'Shamblers' and certain zombies are 'Alphas,' it's very particular… But the Alphas, I sort of think of them like wolves or pack animals that can work as a team. Zeus [Richard Cetrone] is their main guy, and the Zombie Queen [Athena Perample] of course, they have this kind of primitive way of communicating. I'm not even sure how it works, but it's very much from the animal kingdom. They're one with nature if you will."

Written by Snyder with Joby Harold and Shay Hatten, Army of the Dead is an adventure film that takes place after

a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, where a man assembles a group of mercenaries to take the ultimate gamble: venturing into the quarantined zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted. 

Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana De La Reguera, Huma Qureshi, Raúl Castillo, Omari Hardwick, Tig Notaro, Hiroyuki Sanada, Nora Arnezeder, Matthias Schweighöfer, Garret Dillahunt, and Samantha Win star. As Snyder mentioned, Richard Cetrone and Athena Perample are also in the cast.

Snyder produced the film with Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller. This is the first entry in a franchise. Netflix is already working on as prequel that was directed by Schweighöfer and centers on his character Ludwig Dieter, and the anime series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas will serve as an origin story for Bautista's character Scott.

Army of the Dead marks Snyder's return to the zombie sub-genre seventeen years after he made his feature debut with the Dawn of the Dead remake (watch it HERE).