TLDR: Zombie Plane is a 2026 action-comedy shot in Brisbane, Australia, starring Chuck Norris in his final film role alongside Vanilla Ice, Sophie Monk, and Ice-T.
Norris died on March 19, 2026, nine days after posting a sparring video on Instagram captioned “I don’t age. I level up,” transforming the film from a cult comedy into a posthumous tribute to one of Hollywood’s most enduring action icons.
When Chuck Norris flew to Brisbane in late 2025 to film his scenes for Zombie Plane, nobody knew it would be the last time he stepped in front of a camera. The production wrapped. The post-production wrapped. And on March 19, 2026, nine days after posting a birthday sparring video with the caption “I don’t age. I level up,” Chuck Norris passed away at age 86.
What was always going to be a gloriously absurd cult movie about zombies on a plane is now something else entirely. It’s the last roundhouse.
What Zombie Plane Is Actually About
The premise is exactly what it sounds like, and it’s completely intentional. When a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles is overrun by zombies, an unlikely team of celebrity secret agents has to save humanity before the plane goes down.
Norris plays Commander Chuck Norris, the head of a covert government organization that recruits and trains celebrities as undercover agents. Think of it as the Chuck Norris Facts mythology made flesh. His character exists in a world where Chuck Norris really is the last line of defense against the apocalypse.
Vanilla Ice plays Agent Vanilla Ice, a lethal CIA operative whose entire music career has been a front for zombie-hunting operations since 1989.
His mentor and handler is, of course, Commander Norris. Sophie Monk plays a heightened version of herself, the reluctant passenger who becomes the unexpected sidekick, frequently reminding Ice that he is, in her words, a “one-hit wonder.”
Monk described her approach as method acting, noting that while her real-world self might not survive an outbreak, her character absolutely can.
The cast doesn’t stop there.
Ice-T plays General Michaels, a high-ranking military coordinator overseeing the aerial threat. Brian Austin Green is Special Agent Brian Austin Green, an expert operative assisting in outbreak containment.
Cody Simpson portrays the young Vanilla Ice in 1989 flashback sequences showing how the whole thing started. Bob Geldof plays a heroic passenger named Mort Pudlin, a role he reportedly found terrifying given it was a “big acting role” well outside his usual cameo comfort zone.
There was also nearly a Wiggles subplot. The directors originally planned to write the original four members of The Wiggles into the film as part of the celebrity agent team. Their management ultimately declined, citing concerns that the film’s irreverent and violent tone wouldn’t align with their core audience. Their loss became Brian Austin Green’s gain.
The People Behind It
Zombie Plane was directed by Lav Bodnaruk and Michael Mier, founders of Chop Shop Post, a boutique visual effects and post-production house they established in 2011. Bodnaruk served as both director and cinematographer, a dual role that kept the visual pipeline lean and consistent.
The screenplay was written by William Strong, the pen name for Bill Hargenrader, a U.S. Army veteran and cybersecurity expert whose military background reportedly shaped the film’s covert operations logic.
The script’s origin story is its own piece of absurdist trivia. It grew out of a 2023 TMZ episode involving Vanilla Ice, which the writers used as a jumping-off point for a fully self-referential celebrity satire.
Production was handled by Radioactive Pictures in Australia and Entertainment Squad, a subsidiary of Studio Dome, for the U.S. market and international sales.
The budget came in at approximately A$6.2 million, with support from Screen Queensland and Screen Australia through regional tax offsets and grants. To stage the film’s action sequences convincingly, the production built a purpose-made 60-meter long airplane set at Screen Queensland Studios in Brisbane, the primary stage for the film’s confined, high-altitude mayhem.
On Set With Norris
Producer Jessica Butland described Norris as “excellent” and “in his element” during the Australian shoot, calling his presence on set a “match made in cinematic heaven.” Entertainment Squad’s Shaked Berenson echoed that sentiment after the news of his death broke, saying the team was “devastated” and that Norris’s role as the badass spy leader would now stand as a definitive bookend to his career.
His son Dakota Norris, who served as the film’s stunt choreographer, posted a tribute after his father’s death that captured what the shoot meant to their family. “You’ve been the man I looked up to my whole life,” he wrote. “I hope I can live a life that honors you and makes you proud.”
The production had its share of on-set stories. Kyle Sandilands, playing a billionaire yacht owner, reportedly got into a dispute with the costume department that left him feeling humiliated in front of his co-stars.
Ellie Gonsalves performed a single zombie-fighting kick approximately 1,000 times to get the perfect angle. And during a break in filming, Vanilla Ice apparently assisted a VIP client with a real estate transaction, which tells you everything you need to know about the energy on set.
When and Where You Can Watch It
Zombie Plane is scheduled for a 2026 theatrical release, beginning with a month-long window in Australia through Radioactive Pictures before rolling out to the U.S. through Entertainment Squad. The UK and New Zealand are also part of the theatrical rollout.
After the theatrical window, the film moves to global digital platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, and Google Play. Given the circumstances of Norris’s death and the film’s cult positioning, the VOD window is expected to perform strongly as fans seek out his final performance.
A teaser trailer titled “Stop, Decapitate and Listen” was released in 2025, a play on Vanilla Ice’s most famous lyric. The film was showcased at the American Film Market in November 2023 and at the Marché du Film at Cannes in 2024, where it built a reputation as a genuine buzz title within the genre community. A sneak peek was also presented at the AACTA Festival in early 2025.
The Final Roundhouse
The tributes from the action world came quickly after March 19. Sylvester Stallone called Norris “all American in every way.” Jean-Claude Van Damme said he would never be forgotten. Dolph Lundgren called him a champion and a role model.
Entertainment journalists have begun drawing comparisons between Zombie Plane and the final films of other action legends, noting that unlike productions forced to rely on archival footage or body doubles, Zombie Plane features a fully realized, self-aware performance from Norris in his later years.
Playing a character literally named Commander Chuck Norris, in a film built around the mythology the internet created about him, he was performing a meta-commentary on his own invincibility before his actual passing.
Dread Central used the phrase “final roundhouse” to describe what the film now represents. It stuck.
The “I don’t age. I level up” caption from his last Instagram post has taken on a different weight since his death. Fans and critics alike have folded it into their framing of Zombie Plane, viewing the film as his final leveling up, the moment where the Chuck Norris Facts mythology and the real man finally merged completely on screen.
It’s a zombie movie about a plane. It’s also, now, something more than that.
