Brad Pitt is set to reprise his role in Paramount’s long-awaited sequel to World War Z, with filmmaker Edward Berger attached to direct.
Berger, known for All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave, will direct from a screenplay by Dennis Kelly. Plot details are being kept under wraps.
Pitt will also produce the film alongside Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner through Plan B, while Berger will serve as an executive producer.
The original World War Z, directed by Marc Forster and released in 2013, starred Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations employee who races to contain a global zombie outbreak.
Based on Max Brooks’ 2006 novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, the film earned more than $540 million worldwide.
Paramount announced at CinemaCon in April that a sequel had entered active development after several previous attempts failed to materialize. One earlier version was being developed by David Fincher, but the project was scrapped in 2019.
The sequel marks another collaboration between Pitt and Berger. The director recently helmed The Riders, an A24 film starring Pitt, which wrapped production earlier this year and is currently in post-production.
Pitt is also preparing for the release of Heart of the Beast, a survival thriller directed by David Ayer and scheduled to reach theatres next Friday.
He will later reprise his Oscar-winning role as Cliff Booth in Fincher’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, written by Quentin Tarantino. The film is scheduled for an IMAX release on November 25 before streaming on Netflix from December 23.