Half a billion dollars at the box office meant that 2013's World War Z was not at all the disaster that many had predicted. Those sorts of numbers obviously lead to sequel talk, with Juan Antonio Bayona (The Impossible) in the frame to direct and Steven Knight (Locke, Hummingbird, Eastern Promises), working on the screenplay. Still at the treatment stage, Knight has just dropped an intriguing bit of intelligence regarding the follow-up. It is, he says mysteriously, "a clean slate".
"I thought, why not? What fun," says Knight of his decision to accept the gig penning a blockbuster zombie sequel. "It’s not quite like the other. We're starting with a clean slate. When [the studio and Brad PItt's Plan B production company] have signed off, we're on!"
So what does 'clean slate' mean? Is it possible that World War Z is set to become an anthology series, with each potential instalment a smaller piece of a bigger puzzle? Are we going to move our focus to different characters, leaving Pitt to produce but not appear in front of the camera? Or is Knight just talking about ignoring whatever had already been written and starting his own attack from scratch?
Sadly Indiewire's interviewer failed to get Knight to clarify, meaning there are only questions and no answers at this point. Not much to go on then, but what's certain is that there's plenty of as-yet unused material from Max Brooks' novel for Knight to draw on...
As things currently stand, World War Z 2 is looking at an October shoot for a release in 2016.