It’s being reported that Bryan Cranston, the Emmy Award–winning star of AMC’s Breaking Bad, is in negotiations to join Brad Pitt on the cast of the post–apocalyptic zombie flick, World War Z.

Who Cranston would be playing is not yet known, but it’s said to be a “small but notable” character. It’s also unknown whether the actor would be taking on the role once filled by either Ed Harris or Matthew Fox””both of whom departed the project not long after being cast.

A lot of people seemed to be pretty excited about an adaptation of the Max Brooks novel, World War Z. The book tells the story of a zombie outbreak and the human fight against them told through various first-person accounts of the devastating event.

A movie adaptation of the book has been in the works for a long while now with Brad Pitt attached to star and his Plan B Entertainment producing. The script was originally written by J. Michael Straczynski and recently rewritten by Matthew Michael Carnahan, with Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster locked to helm the project. Even with the long developmental period all signs pointed to World War Z being a huge future blockbuster, but now Paramount Pictures is having second thoughts…and they might just call it off completely.

Back in 2008, a film adaptation of the zombie survival novel World War Z was quickly gaining steam. J. Michael Straczynski was writing the script and Marc Forster was brought on to direct with hopes of a release some time in 2010, which clearly has not worked out so well. The movie was also moving under Brad Pitt‘s Plan B Entertainment, and many rumors had Pitt set to star in the adaptation as well.

Now comes word out of the Comic Con scene that the movie is still very much happening, and Pitt has gone from rumored star to officially attached to star. MTV was able to talk to the novel’s author and son of Mel Brooks, Max Brooks, who received a call sharing the good news with him.