A fifth movie in the “Zombies” franchise is officially coming to Disney Channel and Disney+, TVLine has learned, confirming that the next chapter in the series will introduce mermaids into the mix.
“The newfound peace between the daywalkers and vampires is put to the test when a band of fierce mermaids arrives in Rayburn, making waves and casting a persuasive siren song to lure in new allies,” reads Disney’s official synopsis. “Nova and Victor must unite their groups once more to discover what the mermaids are really after in order to protect the fragile harmony they worked so hard to build.”
Returning cast members include Malachi Barton as vampire Victor, Freya Skye as daywalker Nova, Swayam Bhatia as vampire Vera, Julian Lerner as daywalker Ray, and Mekonnen Knife as vampire Vargas. Trevor Tordjman is also returning as Addison’s cheerleader cousin Bucky, last seen in the third movie.
Though franchise stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly are not expected to appear in the fifth movie as zombie Zed and alien Addison, they are returning as executive producers.
Newcomers include a trio of mermaids — Diaana Babnicova as “cool girl” Pearl, Taylor Oliver as “bad boy” Fin, and Olive Mortimer as “tech wiz” Sandy — as well as Zed’s zombie cousin Izzy, played by Emily Costtrici.
The fifth “Zombies” movie, whose full title will be announced later, enters production this spring in New Zealand.
How did Zombies 4 end?
To be fair, we can’t say we’re entirely surprised to see mermaids joining the “Zombies” franchise, as the fourth movie ended with Victor (Malachi Barton) and Nova (Freya Skye) witnessing a strange new force emerging from the ocean.
“There are so many things it could be,” Skye told TVLine at the time. “Loads of things live in the ocean!”
Mermaids were the obvious conclusion, but TVLine was feeling cheeky, so we floated a second possibility: What if the mysterious ocean creature turned out to be Uma (China Anne McClain) or Uliana (Dara Reneé) from the “Descendants” franchise? With all the success of the “Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide” tour, wouldn’t it make sense to bring that crossover to the small screen?
“Low-key, you just hurt my brain,” Barton said in response to our theory. “That’s genius, I’m not even going to lie. I’m going to call Dara right now and tell her.”
We knew it was a long shot, but it was still worth theorizing. After all, as executive producer Milo Manheim told TVLine at the time, those end scenes can mean anything.
“Maybe I shouldn’t say what I’m about to say, but I think we just kind of throw a curveball at the end of every movie and then we figure it out,” Manheim said with a laugh.
Are you excited for “Zombies 5”? Drop a comment with your thoughts on the Disney franchise below.