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.

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.