The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die is independent director Jim Jarmusch’s absurdist take on a horror comedy that centers on the reactions of people in a small town when they find themselves in the middle of a zombie apocalypse caused by polar fracking. The movie is led by Adam Driver and Bill Murray, but the supporting cast includes Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Selena Gomez, and more, giving the movie a very impressive wealth of talent. While many main characters in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die ultimately end up dying, their adventures along the way are pretty unusual and funny.

While the film received mixed reviews upon its initial release, when the movie was added to Netflix in December 2024, The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die quickly found streaming success. Its renewed popularity is no surprise given the ᴅᴇᴀᴅpan humor, fourth wall breaks, and unexpected ending twist in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die are enough to keep audiences watching, and guessing, throughout its runtime. While the movie’s humor by itself is very entertaining, The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die is made even better by the cameo appearances of numerous celebrities as zombies and minor characters.

10

Rosie Perez As Posie Jaurez

Perez Briefly Appears As A News Reporter In The Beginning Of The Film

The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die opens in the town of Centerville as the residents begin noticing odd occurrences, such as the sun not setting. Reporting on this phenomenon, Rosie Perez appears as news anchor Posie Juarez to explain that the polar fracking occurring in both the North and South Poles has the ability to change the Earth’s rotation or knock it off its access, leading to catastrophe. While Perez’s cameo is quite brief, it does serve as one of the most important cameos in the film because it explains why the zombie apocalypse happened.

Rosie Perez’s portrayal of the news anchor is quite funny, as she appears flustered and speaks off-screen to someone about the strange things happening outside. The cameo also makes sense as Perez worked with Jim Jarmusch previously in his 1991 film Night on Earth. This is also a common thread between many of the cameos in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die, as many of the actors are frequent collaborators of Jarmusch.

9

Eszter Balint As Fern

The Actor Has Collaborated With Jarmusch Before

Eszter Balint plays Fern, a waitress at Centerville’s diner, who is seen in several scenes in the beginning of The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die. Balint is a singer as well as an actor, and she made her debut in Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise in 1984. Fern’s character and the diner setting help introduce several of the movie’s characters, including Danny Glover as Hank and Steve Buscemi as Frank. As they listen to the news broadcast about polar fracking, the characters also provide insight into what they think could happen.

Unfortunately, Fern meets her end too soon, as zombies attack her diner before she has a chance to close up for the night. Fern and Lily, another waitress, are the first two characters to die onscreen when they are attacked and eaten by two coffee-loving, and familiar looking, zombies. This point also serves as the moment that The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die truly leans into its absurdity, creating a gory death that is both shocking and slightly funny.

8

Iggy Pop As Coffee Zombie

The Legendary Musician Becomes The First Zombie

Part of what makes Fern’s death so darkly funny to audiences is that one of the zombies who kill her is played by Iggy Pop. The Stooges frontman rises from the grave along with one other zombie, and they make their way toward the town’s diner. Upon arriving at the diner just as Fern is about to close, the zombies make their way inside and eat Fern and Lily before turning their attention to their real interest, the H๏τ coffee.

One of the biggest critiques that Jim Jarmusch makes in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die, borrowed directly from an iconic zombie movie predecessor, Dawn of the Living ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, is that of rampant consumerism. In The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die, each of the zombies is able to say only one word. Whether it be coffee, Wi-Fi, or guitar, the word represents what was important to the zombies while they were alive. After drinking the coffee left in Fern’s diner, Iggy Pop and his companion zombie continue to make their way through town.

7

Sara Driver As Coffee Zombie

Jarmusch’s Partner Makes An Appearance Alongside Iggy Pop

In Iggy Pop’s appearance as a coffee zombie, he is joined by Sara Driver, Jim Jarmusch’s partner. Driver has produced several of Jarmusch’s films along with playing small roles in many, and she has directed several films as well. As she appears in the credits of many of Jarmusch’s films in various behind-the-scenes roles, it only makes sense that she would appear in a small, silly role in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die as the perfect cameo for fans who know her connection to Jarmusch.

Funnily, Driver’s coffee zombie actually survives the ordeal. If a zombie can be said to survive, that is. Her affinity for coffee keeps her and Iggy Pop’s zombie walking through town together, and the two can actually be seen again toward the ending of the movie. After promising to meet Tilda Swinton’s character, Zelda, at the graveyard, Adam Driver, Bill Murray, and Chloë Sevigny patrol the town in their police car while making their way to the cemetery. Along the destroyed road, they see the two zombies eerily creeping toward the car with a new pot of coffee, repeating the word over and over.

6

RZA As Dean

RZA’s Delivery Driver, Dean, Is Given A Wu-PS Van

RZA has a cameo as the minor character Dean in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die. The Wu-Tang Clan leader plays a delivery driver, whose van is fittingly labeled “Wu-PS”. Toward the beginning of the movie, while making his rounds, Dean speaks with Bobby, an employee at the gas station and avid horror fan, who sarcastically warns him about a coming apocalypse. The two seem to be joking as they mostly reference old horror films, but the threat is much more real than they recognize.

Sadly, like the majority of the characters in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die, RZA does not survive. He is seen again briefly toward the end of the movie as a zombie, still in his uniform. RZA’s cameo is very clever, but it also serves to further his collaboration with Jim Jarmusch, as he has previously also appeared in Ghost Dog and Coffee and Cigarettes by the director.

5

Carol Kane As Mallory

Kane Too Becomes A Zombie

Carol Kane is known for her talent in horror and comedy films alike, so her cameo in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die makes perfect sense. Kane gained attention in the 1970s for her roles in movies like Dog Day Afternoon, Annie Hall, and When a Stranger Calls and has continued starring in recognizable films to this day. In The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die, Kane appears as Mallory who, unlike the majority of the film’s characters, is actually already ᴅᴇᴀᴅ when the film begins.

The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die frames Mallory as an alcoholic that the police in the town were already aware of, and they express their sadness when she is found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at the beginning of the film. Her body is brought to the police station, as the funeral home cannot hold it, and the police go about their day. However, as the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ begin to rise from their graves, Mallory also becomes a zombie and scares the living characters when they realize what has happened. Mallory is ultimately killed by Adam Driver’s character, but Carol Kane’s brief appearance is certainly entertaining.

4

Larry Fessenden As Danny

Fessenden Is No Stranger To Horror Films

Larry Fessenden makes a cameo appearance in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die as Danny, the owner of a motel in Centerville. As an actor, director, and producer, Fessenden is no stranger to horror films. He has starred in movies such as I Sell the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, Jug Face, and We Are Still Here, and directed the horror movie The Last Winter, which received positive reviews. Fessenden has also worked with Jim Jarmusch before, making his appearance in Jarmusch’s zombie horror comedy completely understandable.

In The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die, Danny rents out a motel room to three young travelers and is also seen looking for his cats after watching news reports that animals are acting strangely. After these events, his fate is left unclear until the movie shows him exiting a motel room as a zombie. Fessenden’s character sadly meets the same fate as many of his costars.

3

Sturgill Simpson As Guitar Zombie

Simpson Also Lends His Voice To The Movie’s тιтular Song

One of the funniest and most fitting cameos in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die is that of Sturgill Simpson. The real-life country singer exists as a singer in the film’s universe, and he is very popular due to a song that many of the characters love, enтιтled “The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die”. The song is referenced many times throughout the film, with Adam Driver’s character listening to it repeatedly before Bill Murray complains about it and Selena Gomez’s character buying it on CD at the gas station.

Despite being constantly referenced throughout the movie, Simpson’s cameo is also the easiest one to miss. He appears for about 30 seconds at the 1:05 mark in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die. A musician in life and the afterlife, Simpson portrays a zombie walking in the street who drags a guitar behind him while repeating “guitar” several times. Because of his zombie makeup, even fans of the singer may have trouble identifying him at first, but the musical aspect helps give it away a bit.

2

Charlotte Kemp Muhl As Fashion Zombie

The Singer And Model Briefly Shows Up As A Zombie

Charlotte Kemp Muhl portrays the fashion zombie in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die. Kemp Muhl is a model who has worked with numerous designers and brands, including Maybelline, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, and more, so her appearance as a fashion zombie is certainly warranted. Beyond her modeling career, Kemp Muhl is also a musician who is best known for her musical collaboration with Sean Ono Lennon, who has also been her partner since 2007.

In The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die, Kemp Muhl’s cameo can be seen near the end of the film as Tilda Swinton is driving toward the graveyard. She carefully swerves around the zombies in the road, but upon seeing Kemp Muhl’s zombie, she stops to say hello. Kemp Muhl’s fashion zombie has time to strike a pose and say “fashion” before Swinton’s character decapitates the zombie and drives away.

1

Tom Waits As Hermit Bob

Hermit Bob Is The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die’s Only Survivor

Somewhere between a cameo and a proper character, Tom Waits mysteriously shows up throughout The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die as Hermit Bob. Jarmusch’s longtime collaborator plays the role of a narrator and voice of conscience throughout the film, and particularly during its ending. He is introduced at the beginning of the film as an outcast who shuns the materialism of the other characters, preferring to live on his own in the woods. This lifestyle also allows him to spy on other characters through his binoculars over the course of the film.

Hermit Bob watches as zombies kill Steve Buscemi’s character, whom he previously had an argument with, and later as zombies overwhelm Driver and Murray’s characters while they attempt to fight them off. Much to his surprise, Hermit Bob also watches as Tilda Swinton’s character makes her final exit aboard a spaceship. As she presumably leaves the planet, this makes Bob the only living survivor of the zombie apocalypse in The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Don’t Die, pointing to his lack of materialism and unselfish nature as his reason for survival.