John Carpenter Teases Fans With A Possible Thing Sequel
John Carpenter hinted to fans that he's working on a sequel to The Thing.
It has been 41 years since an alien infiltrated U.S. Outpost #31 in Antarctica, but John Carpenter might be making a sequel to his classic sci-fi film The Thing. Creepy Catalog shared that the legendary horror director participated in a panel discussion during the Texas Frightmare Weekend and said, “there may be a Thing 2.” Cue the Wilhelm scream.
While there are no definitive plans for a sequel, it’s something that John Carpenter has discussed openly in the past, even as recently as last year. The Master of Horror seems open to the idea of creating The Thing 2 but has sworn himself to secrecy just in case it does happen.
John Carpenter directed The Thing back in 1982, along with an all-male cast that included Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley, and a very handsome (yet alien) husky. The movie takes place at a remote research facility in Antarctica, where the crew slowly become infected by an alien creature that takes over their bodies. Paranoia and claustrophobia set in amongst the crew as they try to decide who is really human and who is “the thing.”
John Carpenter gave the above quote when a member of the audience asked him one of the most popular questions about The Thing: Was Childs (Keith David) an alien at the end of the film?
This topic has been heavily debated by fans, with some theorizing that he is an alien because you can’t see his breath in the cold air, but you can clearly see the breath from MacReady (Kurt Russell). Others think that the drink MacReady offers Childs is actually gasoline from their homemade Molotov cocktails, and since he takes a drink from it, that confirms he is an alien who doesn’t recognize the awful taste.
If there is a sequel to The Thing, then John Carpenter is keeping his lips sealed about whether or not Childs is an alien. In theory, Keith David and Kurt Russell could both reprise their roles in the sequel since they’re both still acting in their older days. In fact, during the panel discussion, John Carpenter mentioned that he and Kurt Russell may have recently spoken, though it could have been about anything.
In 2011, there was a prequel to The Thing, which was confusingly also called The Thing, and it, unfortunately, did not involve the creative mind of John Carpenter. The prequel had some promising potential, especially with Mary Elisabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, and Eric Christian Olsen as the main cast, but audiences were pretty unsatisfied with the movie. Fans who loved Stan Winston’s incredible special effects from the original film were disappointed with the CGI that was used in the prequel.
As we continue to hold our breath for a sequel to The Thing, we can at least look forward to a new project from the legendary director: John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams. While not much is known about the new TV series, we can expect that it will give us similar creeps and scares as his classic horror movies like Halloween, They Live, and The Fog.
