David Fincher has likened his scrapped World War Z sequel to HBO's The Last of Us TV adaptation, saying he is glad his movie didn't make it beyond pre-production.
Fincher told GQ that there were some notable similarities between his Brad Pitt-fronted follow-up film to World War Z and the HBO adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, so much so that he was left feeling happy his project never came together because he feels the other had "more real estate" to tackle the same topics.
"It was a little like The Last of Us," Fincher said, teasing what he had planned for the World War Z sequel. "I'm glad that we didn't do what we were doing because The Last of Us has a lot more real estate to explore the same stuff. In our title sequence, we were going to use the little parasite… they used it in their title sequence and in that wonderful opening with the Dick Cavett, David Frost-style talk show."
World War Z was a commercial success upon its release in 2013, grossing over $540 million worldwide at the box office. Paramount confirmed its plans to make a sequel shortly after, but planning turned patchy after Marc Foster, director of the first film, announced that he would not be returning to helm the second feature.
There was a further shake-up that resulted in Fincher signing on as J.A. Bayona's replacement in the director's chair. However, the sequel never pulled together as Paramount decided to halt pre-production in 2019, reportedly due to budget issues and a lack of momentum, even though production was supposed to begin that year.
Meanwhile, the staggering success of The Last of Us meant HBO wasted no time in handing out a second-season renewal. The series averaged 30.4 million viewers across its first six episodes, and its highly anticipated finale brought in the largest audience of the season — though lead star Pedro Pascal was not a viewer.
Showrunner Craig Mazin has said that he is open to making spin-offs and has already teased that Part II will take "more than a season's worth of television", implying that the sequel may play out across multiple seasons, which will be a big difference from the show's first season telling the entire story of the original game.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X @AdeleAnkers.
