1982’s The Thing is one of the most terrifying sci-fi horror films ever made. In it, an alien species takes over (or eats?) other lifeforms including canines and humans, and impersonates them almost impeccably. The question of who is as they actually appear to be and who is a murderous alien permeates the movie, and has made it a cult classic.
It’s been over forty years(!) since the movie came out (let’s not think too much about the 2011 remake) and the possibility of another film was thought to be little more than a pipe dream… until now. The Thing’s director, horror legend John Carpenter has recently breathed life into the possibility of a sequel.
In a recent Q&A panel at Texas Frightmare Weekend (via /Film), Carpenter had an interesting response to a fan who asked him whether the character Childs (Keith Davis) was actually an alien by the end of the movie. The Thing purposefully leaves this up in the air, and Carpenter has also avoided answering directly. This time, however, he did tease something else.
“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,” he said.
The possibilities are tantalizing! Will the story pick up forty years later, reflecting the amount of time that has passed in our world since the first film? Will Carpenter be on board once again to direct? And will we actually get an answer to that fan’s question on whether Childs really was an alien in the original movie’s final scene?
We sadly don’t have any answers to these questions yet, but here’s to hoping we’ll get more of an update soon.
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