Director Adam Wingard's "Terminator meets Halloween" thriller The Guest (watch it HERE) did not do well when it was released in 2014, but the film has earned such a large cult following over the years that Wingard and writer Simon Barrett can't do the press rounds without getting asked about the potential of The Guest 2 from multiple interviewers. This was proven while Barrett was promoting his newly released film Seance (watch that HERE).
Before we get to some fresh quotes from Barrett, here's a refresher on what The Guest was about:
David (Dan Stevens) arrives at the family home of a close friend he served with in the military who had died in combat, allowing the family to help grieve the loss of their son. However, a mysterious set of events unfold that lead Anna (Maika Monroe) and Luke (Brendan Meyer) to think that David isn't who he says he is, as he shows off almost supernaturally heightened combat skills.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Barrett said,
At this point, I think a Guest sequel could only disappoint. … People probably have a much cooler idea in their heads of what The Guest 2 could be than anything I could deliver. It’s like that Star Wars prequel thing. We could show you more adventures of David, but they probably wouldn’t be as cool as whatever you’re imagining we’d do. (Laughs.) So we are trying to come up with a way to deliver The Guest 2 that doesn’t disappoint people. It wouldn’t be a feature film, a comic book or anything like that. It would be something different. So we’re trying to work on something different right now."
Barrett confirmed to ComicBook.com that something "Guest-related" is "concretely happening".
But it is not a feature film or a comic book, because I think that's what people would expect us to do. And I think that's the thing that no one actually wants us to do, because … that could only disappoint people at this juncture, because people have to remember that the same weird, quasi-original artistic sensibility that caused me to write The Guest in the first place would continue to guide me with a Guest sequel. So I would likely do something perverse, and just have Dan's character be the successful owner of a local hardware store and the entire story is just about him dealing with a difficult supplier, but in a totally legal and healthy way, because he's totally grown as a person. So, we're never going to do just like, The Guest 2. The Guest was just never meant to have a sequel like that. However, at this point, enough people have asked us about it, that of course, inevitably Adam and I have had enough conversations about what we would hypothetically do, that we've now developed a bunch of ideas that we've become very attached to, because we think they're actually good.
There's definitely going to be one thing that tells you what the further adventures of Dan Stevens' character and Maika Monroe's character and Brendan Meyer's character, what those could have been. And then, we'll see if it leads into anything more concrete, but we're not going to exploit any of our fans and we're not going to ruin anything. What's a way to respect that and give them something, but not disappoint them and not let them down?' And that's a real challenge, and I think we have a cool answer, but we'll see. People might be really pissed off."
Barrett also told our own Lance Vlcek that he and Wingard are working on a story "set in the Guest world". To hear his full comment on that, check out the video interview embedded below.
Back in March, while promoting his movie Godzilla vs. Kong, Wingard said
We do have a very special Guest “sequel” that I’m working on in an unconventional way. It has to do with the music from The Guest, so there is going to be a big Guest thing coming up really soon that I think is going to thrill people."
He also suggested that a limited series follow-up could happen down the line. We'll keep you updated on these Wingard/Barrett projects as more is revealed.