The next project from Meg 2: The Trench director Ben Wheatley is a six-episode zombie series called Generation Z
This month marks four years since it was announced that Ben Wheatley, whose latest film Meg 2: The Trench is in theatres now (you can read our review at THIS LINK and check out our interview with Wheatley HERE), would be writing, directing, and executive producing Generation Z, a “hilarious, frightening, and political” series that would consist of six hour-long episodes that would “mix flesh-eating zombies into a story that satirizes how Brexit has divided the UK.” That project didn’t make it into production because of the pandemic shutdown… but now it has been revived, and Wheatley has confirmed that it’s going to be his next project!
During an appearance at an Empire VIP screening of Meg 2: The Trench, Wheatley said (with thanks to Fangoria for the transcription), “What I’m doing next is six hours for Channel 4, [a] TV series, a horror-based thing […] In the same way I did In the Earth after Rebecca, I’ll do something that’s back to [the] Kill List-y, Sightseers-y world.“
When we first heard about Generation Z, this is the synopsis that was provided: The future looks bleak for today’s youth – seemingly-endless austerity, astronomical house prices, insurmountable student debt, a political system which appears intent on destroying itself… And to add insult to injury, their hard-earned taxes are being eaten up by the old – smug, self-satisfied, small-minded, “Little Englander” pensioners whose remaining sole purpose in life is to make it a misery for everyone else.
In a small British town, tensions come to a head when a mysterious military convoy crashes outside the Sunnywise Retirement Home. The vehicles were carrying a toxic substance, which, as a result of the crash, leaks into the local environment and infects the residents of the retirement community. The symptoms of this infection quickly manifest – an overwhelming appetite for raw flesh. They’re old, they’re angry and they’re on the rampage. As the military scrambles to control the outbreak and keep everything out of the media spotlight, a group of regular teenagers find themselves in the thick of the battle against these flesh-eating baby boomers.
Empire (via Fangoria) confirmed Generation Z was the show Wheatley was talking about, calling it a “zoomers vs. boomers satire”. Once Wheatley is finished with the series, he’ll be on the look-out for another larger film to work on.
Wheatley has expressed interest in working on Godzilla and King Kong movies, and at one time was attached to direct a Tomb Raider film that eventually crumbled. I’m just sitting here hoping his Alicia Vikander collaboration Freakshift – a ’50s B-movie tribute about “a band of misfits who hunt down and kill nocturnal underground monsters” (namely, giant crabs) – will get made one of these days.
Are you a Ben Wheatley fan, and are you interested in Generation Z? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Wheatley’s previous credits include Down Terrace, Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England, High-Rise, Free Fire, Rebecca, and In the Earth.
