At a point when Hollywood seemed saturated with zombie stories, 2009’s Zombieland managed to stand out from the crowd with a clever blend of road-trip comedy and undead horror, as well as an impressive cast led by Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, and Abigail Breslin.
A story of four survivors who bond while traveling across post-apocalyptic America, Zombieland put screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on the map. They would eventually bring their snappy humor to the Deadpool franchise and this year’s long-awaited sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap. Bringing back the main cast and director Ruben Fleischer, Zombieland: Double Tap is scheduled to hit theaters October 18 — exactly 10 years after the first film hit theaters.
Here’s everything we know about the movie so far.
The trailer and poster
The official trailer for Zombieland: Double Tap was released July 25, and offered audiences the first look at the sequel.
A few months earlier, the film’s official title was revealed on the project’s first, official poster. Sony Pictures posted the promotional image to Twitter, juxtaposing the poster for the 2009 film against a new image featuring the four lead actors, now 10 years older.
#10YearChallenge? Challenge Accepted. #Zombieland2 pic.twitter.com/EeCuR8QVx6
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) January 29, 2019
The film’s subtitle, “Double Tap,” is a reference to one of the rules for survival outlined by Columbus (Eisenberg) in the first film. The rule indicates that you should always “double tap” a zombie (shoot it twice) to make sure it’s dead.
The story
According to the official synopsis for Zombieland: Double Tap, the film pits the four lead characters against new kinds of zombies, threats from other survivors, and problems stemming from their own makeshift family.
The story follows them as they travel into the American heartland and encounter a variety of other, eccentric survivors, as well as a few people who seem eerily similar to themselves.
The cast
The sequel hits theaters a decade after the first film, but Zombieland: Double Tap has still managed to bring back the original quartet of lead actors that made the 2009 movie so successful. Returning cast members include Harrelson as Tallahassee, Stone as Wichita, Eisenberg as Columbus, and Breslin as Little Rock.
Among the newcomers to the franchise making their debut in Double Tap are Rosario Dawson as Nevada (pictured above with Harrelson), Zoey Deutch as Madison, Luke Wilson as Albuquerque, Thomas Middleditch as Flagstaff, and Avan Jogia as Berkeley.
The cameos
Spoiler alert: After Bill Murray made an unexpected (and hilarious) appearance in the first film, the sequel has a lot to live up to in the cameo department. Fortunately, Zombieland: Double Tap already appears to have locked down its cameo roles.
Surprisingly (given his fate in the 2009 film), Murray is expected to reprise his role as, well, himself in Double Tap. He’ll reportedly be joined by his Ghostbusters and Saturday Night Live castmate Dan Aykroyd, who will also be playing a fictionalized version of himself.
