Matthias Schweighöfer is stepping into the director’s chair for his biggest film yet. Not only is he directing Army of Thieves, a live-action prequel to Army of the Dead, but Schweighöfer will also return as his character Dieter.
The official synopsis states that Army of Thieves will follow “a mysterious woman recruits bank teller Dieter to assist in a heist of impossible-to-crack safes across Europe.”
This film is one of two prequel projects spawning from Snyder’s Army of the Dead. We are getting the Schweighöfer-directed Army of Thieves, and also a prequel anime series titled Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas.
SEE ALSO: Read our review of Army of the Dead here
You can see Matthias Schweighöfer’s Dieter in the upcoming zombie film, Army of the Dead. Producers for the prequel movie include AOTD director Zack Snyder and producer Deborah Snyder.
ARMY OF THE DEAD takes place following a zombie outbreak that has left Las Vegas in ruins and walled off from the rest of the world. When Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), a displaced Vegas local, former zombie war hero who’s now flipping burgers on the outskirts of the town he now calls home, is approached by casino boss Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada), it’s with the ultimate proposition: Break into the zombie-infested quarantine zone to retrieve $200 million sitting in a vault beneath the strip before the city is nuked by the government in 32 hours. Driven by the hope that the payoff could help pave the way to a reconciliation with his estranged daughter Kate (Ella Purnell), Ward takes on the challenge, assembling a ragtag team of experts for the heist.
They include Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguera), an ace mechanic and Ward’s old friend; Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), a zombie killing machine; Marianne Peters (Tig Notaro), a cynical helicopter pilot; Mikey Guzman (Raúl Castillo), a go-for-broke influencer and Chambers (Samantha Win), his ride-or-die; Martin (Garret Dillahunt), the casino’s head of security; a badass warrior known as the Coyote (Nora Arnezeder) who recruits Burt Cummings (Theo Rossi), a slimy security guard; and a brilliant German safecracker named Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer). Scott finds an unexpected emotional hurdle when Kate joins the expedition to search for Geeta (Huma S. Qureshi), a mother who’s gone missing inside the city. With a ticking clock, a notoriously impenetrable vault, and a smarter, faster horde of Alpha zombies closing in, only one thing’s for certain in the greatest heist ever attempted: survivors take all.
Army of the Dead sees Zack Snyder directing a cast that includes Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo, Huma Qureshi, Garret Dillahunt, Samantha Win, Richard Cetrone, and Michael Cassidy.
Army of the Dead is set for release on Netflix on May 21st, 2021.