Isabela Merced is moving from one zombie game adaptation to another, as the The Last of Us star has been tapped in a leading role for Sega’s The House of the Dead live-action movie.
As reported by Deadline, the upcoming movie will be helmed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who previously brought another classic zombie gaming franchise to life with the Milla Jovovich-led Resident Evil films. Anderson will also produce The House of the Dead alongside his Resident Evil partner Jeremy Bolt, Sega’s Toru Nakahara (Sonic the Hedgehog) and Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson. Apart from portraying the lead role in the film, Merced will also double up as its executive producer.
The House of the Dead is also described as “a top Sega priority” following the success of the video game studio’s other adaptation, the Sonic the Hedgehog films. Plot details for the upcoming film remain slim, although it had previously received its first concept art back in late 2024.
First released in 1997, The House of the Dead was an on-rails zombie shooter which revolutionised the zombie genre by introducing fast-moving undead, something that would go on to inspire films like Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake or World War Z. The game would go on to spawn five mainline titles and multiple spin-offs, and followed a group of AMZ agents, members of a government agency tasked with thwarting the conspiracies of organisations that threaten the world.
Merced is no stranger to facing off against all manner of creatures, as apart from surviving Shamblers and Clickers in HBO’s The Last of Us, she also went toe-to-toe with Xenomorphs in 2024’s Alien: Romulus. The star has also appeared in other big-name films like James Gunn’s Superman as Hawkgirl, a role she is set to reprise in the upcoming Man of Tomorrow, but let’s see if all this experience will help her when she comes face to face with the infected horrors of Sega’s classic arcade shooting franchise come to life.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
