Train To Busan Is Getting The Zombie Movie Sequel We All Deserve

Train To Busan's director is helming another promising zombie movie story that looks as though it could serve as a better successor to the 2016 horror movie than its actual sequel. There's a reason the zombie subgenre has long been one of the most beloved parts of the world of horror, and that's the almost limitless potential this type of story has, since it can be reimagined practically endlessly to great effect.

A prime example of the limitless potential of zombie movies comes in the form of Train To Busan, which explores the zombie apocalypse from the perspective of a collection of unfortunate passengers who find themselves trapped on a train with legions of the undead. This unique story premise and tense setting resulted in Train To Busan quickly becoming one of the best-regarded zombie movies of all time - a reputation that lives on to this day.

Given the way Train To Busan has faced up to the tests of time, it's only natural to wonder what films could serve as successors to the zombie movie - as while Train to Busan had a direct sequel, its divided reception suggests it didn't capture audiences in quite the same manner as the original. With this in mind, one upcoming 2026 movie is especially promising in terms of how it seems to mirror Train To Busan, and could continue the film's legacy.

Colony Is A Truly Exciting Successor To Train To Busan Made By The Same Director

Yeon Sang-ho is returning once more to the world of the zombie movie after his striking work on 2016's Train To Busan, its less well-known prequel, Seoul Station, which released the same year, and Train To Busan's sequel, Peninsula, which debuted back in 2020.

2026's Colony once again follows an unusual group of survivors facing a zombie outbreak in another claustrophobic environment, which this time is a building that was hosting a biotech conference before the infected started to appear there. Colony's trailer underlines that the building is sealed off from the outside by authorities due to fears about the outbreak, leaving the human characters within it to fend off their foes on their own.

Colony is also exciting in that it seems set to focus on the idea of the movie's zombies rapidly mutating, with main character Kwon Se-jeong being a biotechnology professor who is forced to use her field of study to understand the infected's behavior in order to survive. As such, Colony promises the story depth of Train To Busan alongside seeming to mirror its ability to provide tension and gripping moments.

Train To Busan's Legacy Could Play A Big Role In Colony's Success

Even a decade after its release, Train To Busan is rightfully considered one of the best zombie movies of all time, and is still a benchmark people use to analyze new zombie films to see how they hold up alongside it. Train To Busan ranks second on Rotten Tomatoes' 100 Best Zombie Movies Ranked, and holds some strikingly strong critic reviews to back it up, with a 95% critic score and 85% audience score on the review site itself.

With this in mind, it's decidedly exciting to see Yeon Sang-ho helm another zombie movie - and one that may well end up getting more attention and praise than Train To Busan's direct sequel, Peninsula, as the 2020 film dealt with mixed reviews and lower audience interest, potentially in part because it debuted during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which both reduced cinema-frequenting numbers, and the amount of people who wanted to see a film that is essentially about a deadly virus.

Peninsula also had the challenge of serving as a direct story sequel to Train To Busan, which ironically means Colony may serve as the better spiritual sequel, since it can focus on its own unique premise in much the same way the 2016 film did to great results. As such, there's plenty of reason to be excited about the upcoming zombie movie, which is set to release in the US on August 28, 2026.