James Wan Offers a Mildly Discouraging Update on That ‘Train to Busan’ Remake

Released in 2016, Yeon Sang-ho‘s Train to Busan proved there were still plenty of fresh thrills to be mined from the zombie genre. It spawned an animated prequel and a sequel, and nobody was surprised when an American remake, to be titled The Last Train to New York, was announced. A 2023 release date made things official… almost.

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Obviously, The Last Train to New York—which at one point had Timo Tjahjanto (May the Devil Take You, this year’s Nobody 2) attached to direct and Gary Dauberman (It and It Chapter Two) penning the script—has yet to actually get off the ground. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, would-be producer James Wan said The Last Train to New York is still “a passion project” for his company, Atomic Monster, while also making it sound like it’s very much on the back burner right now.

“Everything about it is really exciting,” he said. “I hope that could get off the ground eventually. Got to be honest with you, I’m not quite sure where it sits right now.”

If The Last Train to New York ever happens, it sounds like horror fans should expect more of a reimagining than a remake—though you have to suspect “zombies on the subway” will still play a big part of the story.

“Creatively, it takes place in the same world as Train to Busan,” Wan told EW. “[The zombie outbreak is] happening epidemically around the world. So if Train to Busan is this particular slice of the story in South Korea, we want Train to New York to be the one set in America.”

There’s been no shortage of zombie tales for the gruesomely inclined lately—28 Years Later just hit theaters—and American remakes of foreign horror hits don’t always succeed. However, The Last Train to New York does sound intriguing. Are you holding out hope it’ll eventually come into the station?

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