How Army Of The Dead Could Capitalize On A George A. Romero Fan Theory

What's better than a Las Vegas heist movie? How about a Las Vegas heist movie where the real obstacle to getting the money is a horde of starving, potentially sentient zombies?

Zack Snyder's new Netflix movie, Army of the Dead, looks like quite the ride, per the action-packed new trailer. The plot of the film focuses on a gang of mercenaries who have 32 hours to nab $200 million from beneath the Vegas strip. Sounds like standard crime caper fare — except the only way out is through a truly massive army of the hungry undead. In an interesting additional wrinkle to the zombie formula, the hordes this time around appear to be smarter, more organized, and in possession of domesticated undead beasts. Compared to the self-seriousness of Zack Snyder's Justice League, Army of the Dead looks like a campy, wild, and pulpy good time at the movies. It helps, too, that much of the cast are talents that you've likely seen before. 

While the trailer has fueled tons of speculation over the film's content, there's one fan theory about George Romero's original Dead movies that may finally bear fruit in Army of the Dead. Here's what we know so far.

A common theory about the zombie plagues of George A. Romero's Dead franchise — which includes classics Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead – is that the zombie affliction's origins are extraterrestrial in nature. It's a subtle point from the original series. We only ever get one canonical bit of speculation about high levels of radiation from a Venusian space probe in Night. In light of that little-known fact, however, some fans have speculated that Snyder's zombies will be alien, as well.

In a press conference on April 13 attended by Looper, Snyder was asked about the theory, and didn't exactly shoot it down. "You're gonna have to watch the movie to see," the director said. That's pretty well short of the Full Sherman, and it has fans of the original Romero films buzzing.

We do know that the plague in Army of the Dead originates from the Area 51 military base, a real-world location long rumored to house the U.S. military's extraterrestrial investigations. While that fact in and of itself isn't confirmation, Netflix plans to release an animated prequel exploring the origins of the outbreak, so this fan theory should be settled one way or the other in due time (via ComicBook.com).