Searching sequel lands new directing team

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Aneesh Chaganty's Searching starred John Cho as David Kim, a father whose 16-year-old daughter goes missing. When the investigative team fails to come up with a single lead, Kim begins looking into her disappearance himself by diving into his daughter's laptop. Told entirely through computer and smart device screens, the film became a critical and commercial success upon its release in 2018 and the ball got rolling on a sequel the following year.

Deadline has announced that Searching director/co-writer Aneesh Chaganty will not be returning to helm the sequel as Will Merrick & Nick Johnson have signed a deal to make their directing debut on the film. The pair edited the original film, so this new move will largely keep the creative team together. Chaganty has returned to pen the screenplay alongside Sev Ohanian. Although not much is known about the sequel at this time, but we do know that the sequel will not follow the same characters or plot line of the original film. In a statement, Chaganty said:

With such restrictive visual parameters, a movie like Searching 2 requires a fresh visual style to separate it from the original. I’ve contributed what I can to this growing sub-genre. But if there’s anyone on the planet with the potential to take it even further, it’s Nick and Will, who were there from the beginning.

Producer Timur Bekmambetov added, "Searching is so far the most successful movie shot in the Screenlife format and the sequel is set to become a new milestone. What seemed like an experimental technique a few years ago has been given a momentum now with more and more industry professionals turning to this digital filmmaking technique." Production on the Searching sequel is expected to kick off this spring. You can check out a review of the original film from our own Chris Bumbray right here.