Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires has landed on Disney Plus, and already talks are turning to whether there will be a Zombies 5 – fans have some ideas of whether the franchise could go next, and the cast have shared some exciting news.
July is a busy month for movie lovers. Superman just flew into cinemas, Jurassic World Rebirth is making its mark, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to drop in a couple of weeks.
This means it’s relatively quiet on the streaming front, but not for fans of High School Musical style bops and supernatural teen drama. Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires dropped on Disney Plus on July 11, and it’s proving just as much of a success as its predecessors.
With speculation now growing over whether Zombies 5 is already in the works, here’s what we know – and what creature feature twist could cause chaos in Seabrook next.
Will there be a Zombies 5?
Disney is yet to confirm a Zombies 5, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. In fact, according to Addison and Zed stars Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim, the franchise is just getting started.
Speaking to Deadline, Manheim said of Zombies 4, “It’s almost like the first three movies were one trilogy, and then this is like the start of another trilogy.”
“I think when I got into this, I just wanted to be in a cool movie for Disney,” he continued. “But now I think the reason I’m still here is because of all the positivity I’ve seen the Zombies franchise bring the world. I mean, also, it’s just really fun to make movies with fun people.”
Donnelly added, “It’s really cool, I think, the concept of me and Milo kind of passing the torch to a whole new generation of kids that grew up on the movie.”
To put it in perspective, the first Zombies movie dropped in February 2018, with the sequel being greenlit in February 2019. The threequel followed this same pattern, but the fourth took a little longer.
While Zombies 3 dropped in July 2022, Dawn of the Vampires wasn’t confirmed until February 2024. One reason could be Disney’s shift in content strategy, which has seen the studio slow down production on many of its streaming originals in favor of quality over quantity.
It’s also possible that the delay was intentional, giving time for a creative reset. Now that the new characters and songs are in place, if the new movie performs well on Disney Plus, there’s a chance Zombies 5 could get the greenlight much sooner.
What could it be about?
Since it hasn’t been confirmed, we can only speculate. But fans have some ideas of where they’d like to see the Zombies franchise head next: mermaids or witches.
Up until this point, we’ve had werewolves, aliens, vampires, and, of course, zombies. Right now it’s anyone’s guess, but merfolk makes the most sense given they made a brief cameo in the threequel.
Taking to Reddit, one wrote, “Mermaids are missing and maybe witches too,” to which another agreed, “Yeah because the end credits there were mermaids but they didn’t include it in the movies.”
A third added, “They had witches in the reanimated series. We wanna see a Zeddison wedding in Zombies.”
However, others aren’t so sure we’ll be seeing more from Zed and Addison, especially as the actors’ latest comments suggest they’re ready to “pass the torch”.
“They’re clearly phasing out the old cast to make way for the new characters this movie,” said one, referring to Dawn of the Vampires.
But their time might not be up just yet. As Manheim said, “I think that one of the amazing things about this franchise is that we’ve kind of created this universe that can go any direction.
“We’re really just expanding and literally getting outside of Seabrook. So I’m curious to see what happens. I think the world could always use another Zombies movie.”
In a separate interview, Chandler Kinney – who plays werewolves leader Willa in the Disney films – was asked about a fifth instalment, to which she said, “This franchise is the gift that keeps on giving for all of us…
“I think I was 18 when I filmed Zombies 2, I’m turning 25 in a month, and I just never knew that Willa would still be in my life and that this world would continue to expand in the way that it has.
“I’m so grateful. It’s been just the best adventure and I’m always here for more. I think one thing we know about the world of Zombies is that there are no limits and the possibilities are endless.”
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