Update: Official synopsis below! Lauren Cohan (pictured; “Supernatural”) has been cast alongside the previously announced Luke Goss, Tanit Phoenix, Sean Bean, Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo and Frederick Koehler Death Race: Frankenstein Lives, the direct-to-disc prequel to the Paul W.S. Anderson remake arriving as part of Universal’s Originals banner later this year. Directed by Roel Reiné, the prequel is serving as the origin story for the character named Frankenstein, a convicted cop killer (Goss) in a declining American Empire where a racing reality show is about to be born in the country’s corrupt prison system. The one thing going for it is that the first should have been direct-to-disc.
“Death Race 2 takes place in the very near future, as the United States economy begins to decline and violent crime starts to spiral out of control. To contain the growing criminal population, a vast network of for-profit, private prisons springs up, creating a lawless subculture ruled by gangs, cold-blooded killers and sociopaths. The worst of these prisons is Terminal Island. Convicted cop-killer Carl Lucas arrives on the Island to serve his life sentence just as ruthlessly ambitious television personality September Jones launches the ultimate reality show, Death Race. A brutal prison yard demolition derby that pits prisoners against each other in steel reinforced, heavily armed vehicles, Death Race offers the winner the ultimate prize: freedom — if he can survive to enjoy it. When Lucas signs up to be a driver, the stage is set for the birth of a legendary racer. ”