George Romero Left Behind Nearly 50 Unproduced Scripts—and One Unreleased Film

George A. Romero left behind nearly 50 scripts that could someday be adapted for the big screen, the late filmmaker’s wife, Suzanne Desrocher-Romero, told ComicBook.com.

Romero is best known for penning and directing Night of the Living Dead (1968), which spawned a slew of zombie-filled spin-offs. He had been working on one of those scripts, titled Road of the Dead, at the time of his death last summer at the age of 77. According to IndieWire, the filmmaker died just days before pitching the idea to film financiers at Frontières. Longtime collaborator Matt Birman came up with the idea for the film, which takes place on an island where captive zombies are forced to race cars for the amusement of human spectators.

That project is still being developed, but there have been bumps along the way, says Desrocher-Romero. “That's in the works I think. I think it's sputtered a little bit, but we'll see what happens," she told ComicBook.com.

In addition to Road of the Dead, Romero had completed the scripts for four more films. Two were based on novels, and two were original stories. However, “only one, a comedy, is a zombie project,” IndieWire notes.

Desrocher-Romero also teased a 1973 movie that only a few select people have seen. She called it a scary movie—but “not a horror movie”—that touches on themes of ageism and features a cameo from Romero. She says its screening will be one of the first projects undertaken by the George A. Romero Foundation she launched this month.

Her husband had also been working on a novel called The Living Dead, and Desrocher-Romero has asked another writer to help complete that project. There’s a lot of unfinished material in her husband’s oeuvre, and if all goes according to plan, horror fans will eventually get to see these visions brought to life.

"George was a prolific writer. He loved to write, and we have 40, 50 scripts that he's written, and a lot of it is very good,” Desrocher-Romero says. “He had a lot to say, and he still does, because I'm gonna make sure that he does. It's my mission."

[h/t ComicBook.com]