While slated to serve as the sequel to Brad Pitt's World War Z, World War Z 2 was never fully realized. After years of waiting, it was officially canceled in 2019, leaving the franchise buried. The cancelation was a surprise, considering that the original had become the highest-grossing zombie movie of all time domestically with its $202 million take at the box office. It left Pitt to move on to other projects, including Bullet Train, Babylon, and The Lost City, as well as many other movies he produced.

Pitt may have moved on with ease, but the mystery behind World War Z 2's cancelation remains. With such a highly successful predecessor, it is rare for a sequel to be canceled so abruptly. Not too much is known about the movie, but what is publically available is certainly worth consideration.

Was World War Z 2 Ever Confirmed?

• World War Z 2 was in development for some time but was eventually axed.

World War Z was meant to be the start of a trilogy, but it never came to be. World War Z 2 was originally slated to start filming in March 2019 and was meant to shoot in Atlanta, Spain, Thailand, and various other settings. Unfortunately, the start of production was delayed until the summer, before it was abruptly canceled in early 2019. It already had a lead actor and director lined up, which is what made the cancellation so surprising. The original had extensive reshoots, which undoubtedly contributed to the decision to cancel the project.

Paramount, the studio that would have financed World War Z 2, instead chose to focus its budget on its other movies, including the Mission: Impossible franchise. While Paramount had no way of knowing it at the time, the decision prevented a coming disaster. Even had the movie begun filming in the summer of 2019, potential reshoots and scheduling issues would have meant that it would be released in the summer, as its predecessor did. Summer 2020 was a terrible time for the box office, given the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some movies may have defied expectations, but World War Z 2 would have needed another delay to prevent a massive bomb.

What Would the World War Z 2 Cast and Crew Have Looked Like?

• Brad Pitt was confirmed for World War Z 2.

Brad Pitt would have led the cast, as he was slated to return for the sequel. He was a producer for the original and was likely to reprise that role as well. Mireille Enos, who played Pitt's wife, also likely would have appeared in the movie, given the original's ending. The rest of the cast remains a mystery, thanks to the abrupt cancelation.

Alongside Pitt, David Fincher was set to direct World War Z 2, though he has since expressed that he was happy that it was never fully developed and released. He would have replaced the original director, Marc Forster. He was not the first choice, as director J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) was originally tapped for the position. Fincher was an experienced director, having worked on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network, and Zodiac. He also worked on the acclaimed show House of Cards. Still, the action-packed zombie movie would have been a change of pace for him, especially given its numerous stunts.

What Was World War Z 2 About?

• World War Z 2's plot was never officially confirmed, but there are rumors.

Many zombie movies have tragic conclusions that spell out decades of suffering ahead, but World War Z ended on a hopeful note. After Pitt's Gerry Lane developed a vaccine against the infection, the world looked like it could swiftly return to a semi-normal state. He reunited with his family, and the efforts to push back the zombies were already underway — as was preventative vaccination. Humanity finally stood a fighting chance, and the end of the war was already in sight.

A follow-up movie would likely have explored the aftermath of the vaccine's discovery. Lane's efforts to vaccinate the entire human race, while still pushing back the infected, would have led to equally intense action scenes, while also offering more insight into the diplomatic state of the post-World War Z world. Max Brook's World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, which inspired the first movie, is an in-depth exploration of the way that different countries would react to the infection. The movie showed some of those elements but never goes into detail the way that the book does.

Lane could have continued to travel around the world, and he would have encountered the survivors desperately trying to push back against the horde. The sequel would have been similar to The Last of Us, according to Fincher, which primarily deals with issues regarding the ethics of vaccine development and human connection. Lane's relationship with his family would surely have been put under stress by his efforts to save the rest of the human race. With World War Z focusing on a desperate fight to survive, World War Z 2 would have primarily focused on humanity's first major offensive against the infected hordes.

Why Was World War Z 2 Canceled?

Approving a sequel to World War Z was a questionable idea from the start. World War Z 2 was a follow-up to a movie that was only mildly profitable. Generally, Hollywood movies need to secure a box office return that is two and a half times the overall budget, due to distribution and marketing costs. With a budget of $190 million, World War Z needed to secure a budget of $475 million to begin breaking even. The movie made about $65 million over that threshold, which was a success, but it paled in comparison to other big-budget movies, like 2013's billion-dollar hits, Iron Man 3, and Frozen.

Another issue is that World War Z 2 largely missed its window. By the time that it was canceled in 2019, the movie was already six years past World War Z's original release. Even the popularity of the inspiration for the series, Max Brook's book, has been waning in popularity since its 2013 release. The original movie benefited from a major desire for zombie-related media. After all, the game The Last of Us was released that same year and The Walking Dead was still at the height of its cultural significance, as the show first premiered in 2010 and was awaiting its fourth season when World War Z was released.

A follow-up sequel would also be a difficult prospect, given that Pitt's Gerry Lane discovered the cure for the infection at the end of the first movie. As unique as World War Z's zombies are, there is no need to explore them in another movie solely dedicated to cleaning up after the infection that Lane already solved. World War Z 2 is unlikely to ever be revived, as Brad Pitt and David Fincher have both moved on to other projects. If it ever does return to screens, it would likely need to be a reboot, rather than a continuation.