Director John Carpenter again teases The Thing sequel

Over the last few years, at various horror conventions, when director John Carpenter has been asked about a sequel to his 1982 classic The Thing, he's given vague and cryptic answers, but he's also hinted that he'd be open to it.

Last week, during an appearance at Fan Expo Chicago, Carpenter was a little more direct. When someone asked him about a sequel to The Thing he said, "We're working on it now." This likely made a lot of horror fans excited, and rightfully so. However, when pressed about it more, he added, "Yeah, I don't know. We'll see."

This is a typical Carpenter response about a question that he's long been asked, though his first part of the response makes clear he's at least open to working on a sequel. That said, this is similar to an answer that he gave last year at Fan Expo Philadelphia. In fact, his answer then was nearly identical and he claimed they're working on it, but continued with the vague, "We'll see."

Additionally, Carpenter has not directed a film since 2010's The Ward, which stared Amber Herd. Since then, he's continually released albums with his son, Cody Carpenter, and his godson, Daniel Davies. They just released the album Cathedral, which coincides with a graphic novel that Carpenter wrote of the same name. The director sometimes still scores films, including the most recent Halloween trilogy for Blumhouse.

Why The Thing sequel has long been a dream for horror fans

Though The Thing received lukewarm reviews upon its release, it's since gone on to widespread acclaim, and along with Halloween, it really cemented Carpenter's name as an important and influential horror director. The move is a remake of the 1951 movie The Thing from Another World. The film follows isolated research scientists deep in Antarctica who discover an alien parasite that infects them one by one, causing paranoia among the all-male research team. The movie stars Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady and Keith David as Childs. The Thing boasts some of the best special effects of its time, created by Rob Bottin.

Carpenter has long been asked about a sequel because of the film's massive popularity within the horror community, but also due to its ambiguous ending. In the film's closing minutes, only MacReady and Childs survive. They sit around a fire, sharing a bottle of whiskey. MacReady succeeded in blowing up the outpost, but it's unclear if that actually stopped the alien before it infected Childs or MacReady. Fans have their own theories about that, but that ending is another reason why Carpenter has long been asked about a sequel.

So, is The Thing sequel likely to happen?

Despite Carpetner's statement that "they're working on it," a sequel to The Thing still seems relatively unlikely, at least in the immediate future, but maybe not impossible. Carpenter has stated lately that he's open to directing again at last under the right circumstances. On a recent episode of Tape Delay Podcast, he even said he'd be willing to contribute to the Halloween franchise again and that it's important to him.

That said, Halloween is a franchise that's still a major box office draw because of Michael Myers' perennial popularity. While The Thing is beloved by horror fans, the 2011 prequel, also called The Thing, received negative reviews and bombed at the box office. It's likely studio heads would be hesitant to attempt a sequel.

All of that said, horror is huge right now and Carpenter has remained relatively in the public eye, at least through his music, convention appearances, and interviews for various genre documentaries. It would be great to see the 78-year-old maestro direct at least one more movie, be it a sequel to The Thing or another project. It's also possible Carpenter can be involved as a writer or producer and hand directing duties over to someone else, while still supervising the project.

As for The Thing sequel, as Carpenter keeps saying, we'll just have to see.

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