'Ready or Not 2' Producer Teases Horror Sequel Status: "It's So Early"

Ready or Not, the horror comedy released in 2019, was a surprisingly successful piece that proved the genre could still be effective without relying on a major franchise or familiar IP. Its hilarious conclusion left things open, and after a strong box office performance, talks about a sequel began. Ready or Not: Here I Come was eventually announced, but six years have already passed since we saw Samara Weaving kicking butt in a huge mansion.

Repeating the same success of the original will be a challenge–especially since a few years have passed. However, producer James Vanderbilt is confident that not rushing things will work out for the best: “We were really hard on ourselves on not just repeating what the first movie was.”

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Vanderbilt spoke to Comic Book during the promotion of his latest movie, Guy Ritchie’s Fountain of Youth. The veteran screenwriter behind 2022’s Scream and Scream VI also talked about the sequel that’ll see Weaving return as Grace. Vanderbilt insists that the project is still underway, and shares a very good reason why it’s taking longer than usual:

“There are a couple of different ways we are doing it. I don’t want to give anything away. It’s so early, and there is so little out there. What I will say is, one of the reasons it has taken a minute to make this sequel was that we were really hard on ourselves on not just repeating what the first movie was, but also, not losing the sauce of what the first movie was.

“It’s interesting because there’s a debate all the way through as to what is real and what is not. That is answered at the end of the first movie, so you can’t put that Le Bail back in the bottle. What Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy [writers] do in this script is incredibly smart. As soon as they pitched it, it was, ‘Of course, that’s what it is. That’s a great idea.’ It’s such a great way to tell this story. I am so excited for people to see it.”

‘Ready or Not: Here I Come’: What We Know So Far

Samara Weaving in Ready or Not — Searchlight Pictures

Widely acclaimed by critics and audiences, Ready or Not was a major horror hit for Samara Weaving, as well as directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett before their participation in the Scream franchise. Fortunately, they will return to direct, and Weaving will join a formidable cast which includes Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Cronenberg, Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, Kevin Durand, and Néstor Carbonell. In terms of the plot, details are being kept under wraps. However, Vanderbilt said that they are not going to rehash the same story:

“I think it’s safe to say we expand the mythology without explaining the entire mythology. I don’t know if that sounds exciting, but it’s exciting to us. I think it’s the right amount of worldbuilding, while still telling an amazing emotional story. We felt so privileged that people embraced that movie, that we didn’t want to revisit it if it was going to kinda be like, ‘Oh, look. They did it again.’ We were all okay leaving it be if we didn’t come up with something that we felt added to it, or in some ways, topped it. We are all really excited about what it is going to be.”

Source: Comic Book