Once again talk of The Thing is popping up online. This time, though, Latino Review is reporting the long-in-development sequel to the 1982 John Carpenter classic isn’t a sequel at all. It’s now looking like it’s going to be a prequel instead!
Supposedly the new chapter in The Thing‘s legacy will focus on the events surrounding the Norwegian research crew who was horribly done away with by the alien baddie before MacReady and his hapless American crew stumbled upon what was left of their ravaged remains in the Carpenter version.
Producer Marc Abraham spoke with the guys over at Latino and had the following to say:
“This is more of a prequel than a sequel, there is your exclusive. It’s going to be taking place in the same time frame.
“These are the events leading up to the 1982 film.”
After reading that, my interest is definitely piqued. That sounds a hell of a lot better than trying to go back to the well once again with Kurt Russel, 26 years later mind you, playing MacReady. Not that MacReady can’t be older, but we all remember what happened with Snake Plissken in Escape From L.A., don’t we?
David Leslie Johnson, Frank Darabont’s former assistant and scribe of the upcoming Orphan, penned a draft at some point, but whether or not that’s the draft in question here remains to be seen.
As I’m sure most of you know, this would be, should it come to pass, the third version of The Thing to hit the screen. The first being The Thing from Another World in 1951 directed by Christian Nyby (some would argue Howard Hawks), the other, of course, being the superior remake in 1982 directed by John Carpenter, which featured landmark creature FX by Rob Bottin.
Both versions were derived from the short story Who Goes There? by Joseph W. Campbell, published in 1938.