Adam Wingard wants you to be his guest again — no, really this time. A sequel for his 2014 thriller has been talked about for quite a while now and has at various points seemed as close as ever to going before cameras. And while we’re far from an official greenlight, Wingard is still toiling away with The Guest 2.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Wingard said that he and writer Simon Barrett have been tinkering with an idea that could make The Guest 2 work. Even still, he feels there is a missing component: the late Lance Reddick, who passed away just over one year ago and who also appeared in Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong. “It’s unfortunate that Lance Reddick died last year. It was very sad, and I loved Lance. So I wish that we could have made [The Guest 2] happen in his lifetime, because we would’ve definitely carried him over into the film.” It’s absolutely worth pointing out that (spoiler alert) Reddick’s character was killed in the first movie, potentially suggesting that The Guest 2 could be set up as a prequel or have varying timelines.
Still, Wingard did throw fans of the first movie a bone when he released the soundtrack to The Guest 2 in 2022. Even more salivating is that he has used a cue from it in this month’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. “I did do one special thing for the fans as a tee up for a potential Guest series, not knowing when we will actually get around to it. We did a soundtrack, and one of those songs from The Guest II soundtrack ended up in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. I temped it into the movie, and it’s in the scene where the characters are walking towards the Hollow Earth vehicle in slow motion. So that’s actually a song from The Guest II soundtrack, but it wasn’t a ploy for me to try to sell Guest II soundtracks. (Laughs.) We just couldn’t beat it in the editorial, and so it ended up making it through the whole process.”
Whether that soundtrack will serve as the only version of The Guest 2 we ever get remains to be seen but we do hope that it continues in a visual form. I can see a limited TV series working, but at the same time Wingard and Barrett’s involvement would be key.
Do you think The Guest 2 is a worthwhile project to explore or was one enough?