When Zack Snyder was originally developing Army Of The Dead, he had a very different actor in mind for lead character Scott Ward. Snyder made his movie debut with Dawn Of The Dawn, a 2004 remake of George A. Romero's classic horror movie. Snyder's update was much better than anybody was expecting, and has since evolved into a cult favorite of its own. A few years later it was announced that Snyder was developing Army Of The Dead, which was another zombie movie set in a walled-off Las Vegas.
The movie was never intended to be a direct sequel to Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead, and the directorial reins were originally set to go to Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (The Thing 2011). That version of the project was shelved for a few reasons, including the expense of filming in Vegas itself. Snyder would dust off and rework the movie for Netflix about a decade later, which sees a group of mercenaries brave the zombie-infested city to pull off an elaborate heist before it is destroyed by a nuclear weapon.
Army Of The Dead has proven very popular with Netflix viewers and has received a largely positive reception. The movie is a colorful and pulpy adventure, and its director was clearly having a ball making it. The project also provided Dave Bautista with a lead role as Scott Ward, the head of the heisters who also has to rescue his daughter from the Alpha zombies that control Vegas. Back when Zack Snyder was developing, he had another actor in mind for the role: Scott Glenn.
Glenn is a prolific character actor probably best known for playing Jack Crawford in The Silence Of The Lambs or Stick in Netflix's Daredevil. He also played The Wise Man in Snyder's Sucker Punch and is a good friend of the director. The actor would have been in his mid-60s when the original version of Army Of The Dead was developed, and would have loaned a grittier edge to the project. Glenn has also stayed in great shape throughout his career - which includes working out with Navy SEALS and practicing knife fighting to stay fit - so the action wouldn't have been a problem either.
Zack Snyder confirmed to Happy Sad Confused he originally had Scott Glenn in mind for the role, and that's why Bautista's character was ultimately named Scott. Army Of The Dead likely would have been a very different project had it been made in the late 2000s - which included a controversial subplot involving zombie sexual assault that was dropped from the 2021 version - but it's easy to see Scott Glenn anchoring it.
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