John Carpenteris open to making a sequel to two of his most iconic 1980s efforts,The ThingandPrince of Darkness. Thanks to the recent emergence of so-called legacy sequels, with 2018’sHalloweenbeing one of the most successful examples, Carpenter spoke withFandomabout which of his other hits he would like to revisit.
“Maybe The Thing. Maybe Prince of Darkness. I can see a little bit more of that. But we’ll see. You never know in this business. You really don’t.”
Now, don’t get it twisted, Blumhouse Productions are currently working on a project based aroundThe Thing, but this will reportedly be a reboot-slash-retelling rather than a follow-up. With this in mind, it seems that Carpenter is also open to exploring the further adventures of Kurt Russell’s MadReady inThe Thing 2.
“Oh, man. Well [clears throat], I just think there’s another bit of a story to tell there, which I’m not going to tell you about. But there have been some discussions about The Thing and what we could do because, as far as we know, both those two main characters – Childs [Keith David] and MacReady [Kurt Russell] — are still alive. They were alive at the end of The Thing, so maybe they’re still alive.”
A sequel toThe Thingis surely something that fans of the cult horror classic would be very curious to see. But, wouldKurt Russellreturn? Carpenter seems to think it could happen…
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
WhileThe Thingfollows a group of American research scientists in remote Antarctica who stumble upon a parasitic extra-terrestrial,Prince of Darknesssimilarly follows a small gang of quantum physics students in Los Angeles who are asked to assist a Catholic priest in investigating an ancient cylinder of liquid discovered in a monastery, which they come to find is a sentient, liquid embodiment of Satan.Prince of Darknesshas been described by John Carpenter as the second installment in what the filmmaker calls his “Apocalypse Trilogy,” which begins withThe Thingand concludes with In theMouth of Madness,and certainly they all lend themselves to further exploration.
So, with theHalloweenlegacy sequels demonstrating such huge success with modern audiences, could we see John Carpenter revisit even more of his back catalog?
Related:John Carpenter Gives His View on the Future of the Halloween Franchise
The Thing Reboot Will Follow the Expanded Version of John W. Campbell Jr’s Novella
While details of Blumhouse Productions’ reboot ofThe Thingremain largely a mystery, it has been reported that the project will followFrozen Hell, the unearthed expanded version of John W. Campbell Jr’s novella “Who Goes There?,” which served as the basis for Carpenter’sThe Thing.
John Carpenter himself recently teased development on the project, revealing that there have been updates, but that he has been sworn to absolute secrecy. “There are updates that I am not allowed to speak of,” he said. “We’ll see, we shall see. Never say never in the movie business, never say never.”
CouldThe Thingreboot be made alongsideThe Thing 2? Can you ever really have too much ofThe Thing? The answer, of course, is no.
