Is the long-awaited sequel to John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror classic The Thing finally happening? Well, maybe, is the somewhat frustrating answer. Appearing at the recent Texas Frightmare Weekend 2023 (via Creepy Catalog), Carpenter was asked the age-old question of whether Keith David’s character Childs is a Thing at the end of the first movie, but rather than reveal anything, Carpenter decided to keep coy as there “may” be a sequel on the cards.
“I have been sworn to secrecy, okay, because there may be, I don’t know if there will be, there may be a Thing 2.”
There have been whispers of a sequel to The Thing for a while now, and while nothing has yet materialized, this is far from the first time that Carpenter has hinted at the project being in development. “There are updates that I am not allowed to speak of,” the legendary filmmaker said last year. “We’ll see, we shall see. Never say never in the movie business, never say never.”
Released way back in 1982, The Thing follows a group of American research scientists who think they are doing the right thing when saving in a dog. Unfortunately, this is just their first mistake, as the dog soon reveals itself to be a parasitic alien being that can assume the shape of its victims. It falls on a resourceful helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) to lead the camp crew in a desperate, gory battle against the vicious creature before it picks them all off, one by one.
Directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster, The Thing was infamously met with negative reviews upon release, but has since been reappraised and is now considered both a classic of the genre and one of Carpenter’s best.
With the popular trend towards legacy sequels, The Thing certainly seems prime for a follow-up. But could The Thing 2 ruin the perfectly ambiguous ending of the original?
Escape from New York Is the Next John Carpenter Franchise to Get a ‘Requel’
Before we possibly, maybe, someday return to the horrors of The Thing, audiences will first take a trip back to a dystopian New York City in the upcoming Escape from New York reboot/sequel. The project is currently being worked on by the filmmaking duo behind 2022’s Scream and this year’s Scream VI, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett aka Radio Silence, who have revealed that their plan for Escape from New York is to make a “requel.”
“It’s a great question. I don’t think we know enough about the movie yet to be able to say anything, but yes ‘requel’ is the idea,” the directing pair revealed. “There’s no way to remake how great that movie is, would be a fool’s errand to try. So, you know, we’ll try to borrow what we love from it and find a new way to put the package together.”
Released in 1981 and co-written, co-scored and directed by John Carpenter, Escape from New York stars Kurt Russell as ex-soldier and current federal prisoner Snake Plissken who is given just 24 hours to rescue the President of the United States. Much like The Thing, Escape from New York is now considered a cinematic classic, with plans for a reboot or sequel having been in various stages of development for quite some time.
But, one important question remains. With The Thing 2 possibly about to be thawed out, and with the Escape from New York requel now in production, will we see Kurt Russell return to two of his most beloved roles?
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
