Brad Pitt Reunites With His ‘Riders’ Director Edward Berger On Paramount’s ‘World War Z’ Sequel

EXCLUSIVE: The long-awaited and highly-anticipated sequel to the hit zombie epic World War Z is gaining some serious momentum as Paramount has not only closed a deal with Brad Pitt to return but has also tapped Edward Berger to direct the pic.

World War Z is based on Max Brooks bestselling 2006 novel, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner will produce on behalf of Plan B Entertainment. Berger will executive produce.

Dennis Kelly will write the script. The film marks Pitt’s return to World War Z following the 2013 film, which earned more than $540 million at the worldwide box office. Plot details are being kept under wraps.

Pitt has wanted to do this sequel for more then a decade going back to when he began wooing his long-time friend and collaborator David Fincher to potentially direct. That plan nearly came together but when budgetary issues arose, Fincher left the film and the project was put on hold but Pitt still hoped to make the sequel some day.

Fast Forward to last summer, new life was breathed into the project after Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg were tapped as Co-Chairs of Paramount Pictures. The two saw this as a high-priority project, confirming their desire to get this film made at the recent Cinemacon event in Vegas. Skydance played a big part in getting the first film off the ground and Skydance founder David Ellison shared Pitt’s desire in moving forward with a sequel.

As for Berger, him and Pitt recently wrapped production on the A24 and Scott Free pic The Riders and sources say the shoot went very well with Pitt and Berger eager to figure out what that new project would be. Insiders add that early on in the shoot, Pitt began pitching Berger on World War Z 2 and how perfect he would be for the project. By end of production, Berger was on board and in recent weeks the studio was able to close the deal with both talents to board the project.

With Pitt, the film continues a strong bond between Paramount and the Oscar winner with his upcoming survival thriller Heart of the Beast bowing next weekend. The pic reunites Pitt with his Fury director David Ayer. Pitt can also be seen later this year in the Netflix pic The Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.

Pitt is repped by CAA and Brillstein Partners and Berger is repped by CAA and Range. Kelly is repped by UTA.