John Carpenter: Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken deserved three or four movies

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

While collaborating on the 1981 sci-fi action classic Escape from New York (watch it HERE), director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell created an iconic character who was worth building a franchise around, war hero turned criminal Snake Plissken. Sadly, Snake only returned for one sequel, 1996's not-so-classic (but still, I feel, quite entertaining) Escape from L.A. (watch that one HERE). It sounds like Carpenter regrets that there's such a low number of Snake Plissken movies, because during a recent interview with Total Film magazine he said the character deserved more.

Carpenter told Total Film,

He's a character that Kurt is passionately fond of. He convinced me to do the sequel. There's probably a third or maybe even fourth story about Snake. I don't know if we'll ever make it, but I think that he deserves it." 

It's not looking very likely that Carpenter and Russell will ever make another Snake Plissken movie, since a remake has been in development for a while now. Last we heard, Leigh Whannell had signed on to write and potentially direct the film. Russell's son Wyatt Russell, who recently had a great role in the Disney+ Marvel series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, has let it be known that he has no interest in taking over the role of Snake, as he feels that would be "career suicide".

The original Escape from New York had the following synopsis: 

In 1997, a major war between the United States and the Soviet Union is concluding, and the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a giant maximum security prison. When Air Force One is hijacked and crashes into the island, the president (Donald Pleasence) is taken hostage by a group of inmates. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a former Special Forces soldier turned criminal, is recruited to retrieve the president in exchange for his own freedom.

Escape from L.A. had this synopsis: 

In 2013, the United States president (Cliff Robertson) is exiling all citizens who don't conform to his hyper-conservative views to Los Angeles, which became an island after a huge earthquake. But, when the president's daughter nabs the detonator to her dad's apocalyptic weapon and sneaks into L.A. to be with the rebel leader she loves, the government taps commando-turned-crook Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) to retrieve the young woman. And, if he doesn't succeed quickly, he'll be executed.

At one point, Carpenter and Russell were talking about making a third Snake Plissken film that would have been called Escape from Earth. Carpenter told Cinema Everyeye, 

Escape from Earth is an idea we had several years ago, but we never managed to go any further. The story would take place after the events of Escape from L.A., which saw Snake take energy away from the world to teach a lesson to humanity. The second sequel would have seen Snake moving into this new world, which had naturally fallen into war and chaos as a result of his actions. With the Armageddon on the horizon, Snake’s goal would have been to leave the planet before the end came."

The Escape from New York remake is being produced by Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman, with Carpenter on board as executive producer.