Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly didn’t just come back for Zombies 4 — they brought clipboards. Both stars are now executive producers, which means their jobs expanded from singing about monster unity to sitting in on casting, wardrobe, and the strange democracy of deciding which songs make the cut. “We’ve always loved to talk creatively just about the whole world,” Donnelly said. “This time we actually got to put that into action. Even hearing songs that weren’t chosen, knowing why they picked the ones they did — it was fascinating.” Manheim added, “We have to do this movie justice. We were thinking about everything. But vibing out on set gave us the best thing we could possibly do.”
Joining them are Malachi Barton and Freya Skye, fresh blood for a movie that politely insists its vampires don’t drink any. Skye binge-watched the earlier films like it was homework. “I was like, let me just eat, sleep, and breathe Zombies,” she said. “You pick up on the style — the way jokes are delivered, the distinctive feel. Studying meant watching Disney Channel movies over and over again. Not a bad gig.”
Barton’s challenge: reinventing a vampire who doesn’t bite. “The blood-sucking aspect is kind of what makes a vampire a vampire,” he admitted, before praising the creative team for swapping jugulars with “blood fruit” — prop berries that looked like boba and, apparently, tasted pretty good. “It’s the family-friendly version of a neck,” Barton said, proud of the oxymoron. He still leaned on old tropes: fangs, eyeliner, brooding. “They’ve got to be a little scary. Dark, mysterious, the smolder. But we let in a new idea of vampires.”
As for the franchise’s future, the cast daydreams about ghosts, new monsters, or maybe just another made-up creature Disney can trademark. “Zombies has been all about expect the unexpected,” Barton said. “Maybe next year we’re saying hi to some new monster and learning to love them. Same old, same old.”
Off set, the undead and their frenemies aren’t exactly pranking each other — they’re running charades and jamming. “Everybody’s a musician,” Manheim said, before listing co-stars with guitar chops and dance moves. “We’re not a prank cast. We’re a game-night cast.” Donnelly nodded: “Yeah, that’s all we do.” Which might be the only monster movie in history powered equally by eyeliner and charades.
Watch the full interview with all four stars above and then check out the trailer below.
