Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle talk returning for Trainspotting sequel

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Putting together a sequel many years after the original isn't exactly something new, especially recently, but every so often, one of these sequels actually manages to justify its existence. Coming in a little over twenty years after the original, Danny Boyle's T2 TRAINSPOTTING will hopefully be one of those long-in-development sequels which works. The follow-up to 1996's TRAINSPOTTING will reunite the original cast, including Renton (Ewan McGregor), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller). With the release of T2 TRAINSPOTTING just a little over a month away, several of the cast spoke with Empire about what it was like to return to these characters once again.

Robert Carlyle on reading the script for the first time:

I was crying. I thought, ‘Why the fuck am I crying at this?’ Danny felt it. Ewan and Ewen felt it. Jonny, we all felt this real emotional connection to these characters and to this world. But that first read – I was speaking to Ewan McGregor, saying, ‘I cannae believe I’m feeling like this.’ I’ve never cried when I’ve read a screenplay before. Ever.

Ewan McGregor on being "really f**king nervous" before stepping back into Renton's shoes:

As soon as I got the Adidas on, I was alright. Because I’m Renton, and Renton’s me. There was nothing to find – he was already there. I hadn’t seen Danny for all those years, and Renton hasn’t seen his mates for all those years. I haven’t lived in Scotland since I was 17. He fucked off, and I fucked off. He’s coming back, I was coming back. There were an awful lot of parallels, you might say.

T2 TRAINSPOTTING will hit theaters in the U.K. on January 27, 2017 before opening in the U.S. on February 3, 2017.