6 Most Exciting Upcoming Zombie Movies, Ranked by Hype
Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
The new age of the zombie movie is here. Not so long ago, you couldn’t turn on a screen without tripping over a zombie TV show or movie. Thanks to the instant success of The Walking Dead, the mid-to-late 2000s and early 2010s offered a veritable feast of rotten flesh for genre fans. It wasn’t all good, exactly, but there was an abundance.
Then the rot set in, and oversaturation turned the subgenre into a punchline, just as it had the vampire movie, and cheap cash-ins and increasingly unimaginative retreads meant zombies simply stopped being scary. Or profitable. And it really didn’t help that there was a major dip in quality. Even positively-received source material like Stephen King’s Cell led to an underwhelming paint-by-numbers movie remake.
From the end of the 1990s, when there were a couple of zombie movies a year, the deluge of zombie movies was wild, hitting its peak in 2008 with a mind-blowing 33, with the release rate finally dropping back to single figures in 2021. For a good while, starved zombie fans had to rely almost entirely on international markets for good options, with Korean horror, in particular, stepping up to prove there was still life in the corpse. Because of the innate entertainment factor in the living dead, the genre will never die, but we’re back in a place where it’s quality over quantity.
2026 has seen 5 zombie movies released, with Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil crowning them and potentially kicking off a reinvigorated franchise for the popular gaming series. Sequels seem inevitable, but nothing is confirmed, so in the meantime, zombie fans will have to make do with these exciting upcoming projects.
6 Dead Snow 3
Tommy Wirkola’s original Dead Snow landed right at the zenith of the zombie movie influx (alongside 26 other releases), but still managed to leave a mark as an instant cult classic. More like an exploitation horror with comedy elements, it set the platform for the superior sequel, 2014’s Red vs Dead, which dialed up the ridiculousness.
It’s not on the same cerebral level as the new Resident Evil, but variety is the spice of life, and if there’s a genre that can survive some knowing self-indulgence, it’s the one that organically allows for supremely gory zombie Nazi action. Since making the two cult Dead Snow movies, Wirkola has also gone on to make the excellent Violent Night (and its upcoming sequel), but he always promised to wrap up his trilogy. Frustratingly, news on Dead Snow 3 has been almost entirely absent, but Wirkola’s promise of a zombie Hitler to close the series makes this one exciting, even if it is on ice for now.
5 The Last Train to New York
There was a fair amount of cynicism when it was announced that Yeon Sang-ho’s excellent Train to Busan was going to be remade. The original had arrived in 2016 and was an instant classic, praised for its brutality and intelligence. It’s still a relentless, bloody joy that takes advantage of its claustrophobic setting and builds a strong emotional core. It currently sits on a near-perfect 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, so naturally, Hollywood came sniffing quickly.
Mercifully, the original reports of a straight remake gave way to the reveal that The Last Train to New York will actually be a spin-off aimed at Western audiences and set at the same time as the original. Director Timo Tjahjanto was linked with horror mastermind James Wan producing, and publicly calling it a passion project. Sadly, after its announcement in 2016, the project hit a roadbump in 2022 and was removed from Warner Bros’ release slate. Wan’s commitment suggests it will escape development hell, but for now, we’re in a holding pattern.
4 Twilight of the Dead
There have been too many …Of The Dead movies, but that’s because George A. Romero basically invented the modern zombie blueprint with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead. In that cult classic, he set the thematic foundation, the embedded social commentary, and the visuals that defined the genre for the last 60 years.
Before his death in 2017, the legendary horror auteur was working on the treatment for the final chapter in his long-running franchise, intending it to be the definitive conclusion to his Living Dead movie saga. Twilight of the Dead will ignore the continuity of Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead, and will instead reveal the fate of the zombies who were left to seek sanctuary at the end of Land of the Dead.
Romero wrote a story set on a tropical island with human life all but wiped out, where the last two survivors live between warring factions of the undead.
After his death, his widow Suzanne Romero continued his vision as a tribute to his legacy. Brad Anderson was attached to direct for a while, but in May 2026, the Paz brothers replaced him, with Kate Beckinsale cast in the lead role. If only for its importance to Romero’s work, this one’s essential for zombie purists.
3 28 Years Later 3
For a while, it seemed like the third 28 Years Later movie might not happen after the second chapter in Alex Garland’s trilogy struggled at the box office and failed to make its budget back. That never made sense: the critical reception was never overblown, despite a 90%+ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and though it’s the strangest entry in the franchise, those who actually saw it in theaters loved it almost as much.
The threequel, which was greenlit by Sony despite that performance, is all the more exciting for the return of Cillian Murphy, with Danny Boyle widely linked with a return to directing duties. Both Boyle and Garland are visionary storytellers, and the franchise has already proven its willingness to aggressively shake up the formula. With the story of Murphy’s Jim set to be continued - and completed - it’s a full circle moment for the franchise that deserves to be told.
2 I Am Legend 2
Given the fact that Will Smith’s hero dies at the end of the 2007 adaptation of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, you’d have been forgiven for thinking the franchise - at least with Smith’s involvement - had no future. But the original I Am Legend had an alternate ending that is now canon, and Smith is officially back for the sequel alongside Michael B Jordan. In this part of the multiverse, Robert Neville didn’t make his fatal last stand, and instead lived for a couple of decades to see nature reclaim the Earth.
Original screenwriter Akiva Goldsman has returned to pen the script and has given various updates, including the recent reveal that I Am Legend 2 has already faced some difficulties in its early production journey. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean that it faces cancellation, as Goldsmith’s hint that it will take heavy inspiration from The Last of Us is very exciting.
1 World War Z 2
The production story behind World War Z was notoriously chaotic, with extensive rewrites, an entirely scrapped third act, and a budget that threatened to run out of control. The Brad Pitt actioner still did well enough at the box office for a sequel to be almost immediately greenlit, but then the production curse struck again. David Fincher was originally involved with Pitt returning, but months of work ended in disappointment as Paramount pulled the plug over budget concerns.
Fan outrage followed, but it’s taken until late Summer 2026 for the project to be revived, with Pitt back alongside Conclave director Edward Berger, with whom he’s making The Riders. It may be a very different movie from Fincher’s canceled vision, but Berger is an exceptionally gifted filmmaker, and seeing how the world has survived the outbreak - with more of the original novel potentially adapted - is a legitimately huge opportunity.
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World War Z 2 is the followup to the 2013 film from director Marc Foster starring Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane. The original plot for the film revolved around Gerry racing to find the creator of the zombie killer virus. However, that version of the film didn't come to fruition after David Fincher left the project.
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I Am Legend 2
- Director
- Francis Lawrence
- Writers
- Akiva Goldsman
- Producers
- Akiva Goldsman, Gregory Lessans, James Lassiter, Jon Mone, Michael B. Jordan, Will Smith
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Uncredited
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Robert Neville
I Am Legend 2 is a sequel to the 2007 film that sees Will Smith reprise his role as Dr. Robert Neville. Despite the theatrical release of the original film showing Neville's demise, the film picks up where the alternate ending left off, with Neville surviving and heading off to spread the cure.
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Twilight Of The Dead
- Director
- Brad Anderson
- Writers
- Joe Knetter, Robert L. Lucas, George A. Romero, Paolo Zelati
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