If your blockbuster requires a touch of worldwide pandemic, Scott Z. Burns is your man. THR reports that 20th Century Fox has hired the writer of last fall’s Steven Soderbergh thriller Contagion to craft the sequel to last summer’s hit origin story Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
The sequel will continue the story of Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) rise to power. So far, just Serkis and director Rupert Wyatt are set to return. The original film’s writers, Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, have already been working on the film as well.
For those who’ve seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes, (**spoilers ahead**) you recall how the film ends. We learn that it is in fact the spread of an epidemic that will wipe out humankind and allow the apes to ascend to power. Needless to say, Burns is well-versed in that process, so we can expect the wild spread of the disease to be a major focus of the sequel’s story.
Burns also wrote The Informant! (another Soderbergh collaboration) and his first major gig was working on the script for The Bourne Ultimatum.