Production has wrapped on Twilight of the Dead, the zombie feature George Romero conceived as the closing chapter of the saga he began with Night of the Living Dead and continued through Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. The shoot wound down this September in Kentucky, and the film now carries a cast and director team that look nothing like the ones first attached to the project.
Kate Beckinsale and Betty Gabriel are the leads, joined by Abigail London and John D. Hickman. When Twilight of the Dead was first announced in 2021, the attached star was Milla Jovovich, with Brad Anderson set to direct. Neither is part of the finished production. Behind the camera instead are Doron Paz and Yoav Paz, the filmmaking brothers behind Jeruzalem and The Golem, with Ho Sung Pak overseeing stunts and action.
The story follows survivors on a devastated Earth caught between warring human factions and an undead threat that keeps evolving, a premise Romero worked out with writer Paolo Zelati before his death in 2017. Zelati wrote the screenplay with Joe Knetter and Robert L. Lucas. Effects work comes from Greg Nicotero, who got his start on Day of the Dead and has stayed tied to Romero’s zombie mythology ever since, including through his work on The Walking Dead.
Roundtable Entertainment produces, with Romero’s estate and his late widow, Suzanne Romero, both attached. Magenta Light Studios, run by producer Bob Yari, holds North American rights and is planning a theatrical release in the United States and Canada, while The Syndicate is handling international sales.
Whether Twilight of the Dead lives up to its billing as the end of Romero’s zombie saga remains to be seen. For now, a finished shoot after years in limbo is itself good news.
