Two years after 10 Cloverfield Lane and ten years after the original Cloverfield, The Cloverfield Paradox was released. This third film in the Cloververse got a surprise trailer during Super Bowl LII and was even available to stream on Netflix after the game. While fans had been dying for another Cloverfield installment, The Cloverfield Paradox got mostly negative reviews from fans and critics.
The third film attempted to tie all of the Cloverfield films together by having astronauts accidentally rip a hole in time and space in an attempt to solve an energy crisis. There is still a lot of mystery shrouding the Cloverfield films, but here are 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Cloverfield Paradox.
It Was The Most Anticipated Horror Movie Of 2018
Fans had to wait eight years for the first Cloverfield sequel, but it really wasn’t a true sequel like fans were hoping for. That being said, 10 Cloverfield Lane was a unique film that temporarily turned the Cloverfield franchise into an anthology series.
When fans found out that a third Cloverfield film was on the way, it quickly became a highly anticipated film. In fact, a Fandango survey reported that Cloverfield 3 was the most anticipated horror film of 2018, followed by Halloween, The First Purge, Insidious: The Last Key, and A Quiet Place.
The Crazy Woman From 10 Cloverfield Lane Makes A Cameo
In 10 Cloverfield Lane, John Goodman’s character (Howard Stambler) is a crazed doomsday prepper that has built an underground bunker to save himself from a chemical attack. Howard tells Michelle and Emmett that the air is toxic, which is thought to be true after a woman came to the door of the bunker and begged to be let in.
The actress who played the unnamed woman in Silicon Valley actress Suzanne Cryer. Cryer also appeared in The Cloverfield Paradox as a news reporter at the beginning of the film, but it is unknown if she plays the same character in both movies.
It Wasn’t Originally A Cloverfield Movie
Much like 10 Cloverfield Lane, Cloverfield concepts were shoehorned into this film after the fact. The film was originally called The God Particle and was written by Oren Uziel. The original script had Hamilton as the only female astronaut, with the rest of the crew all being Americans.
The film was basically a murder mystery as the American astronauts started dying after they discovered a European spaceship. There wasn’t even a plot about alternate dimensions and certainly no mention of monsters. The final scene of the monster emerging from the clouds and any scene taking place on Earth were all filmed and added in during post-production.
The Cloverfield Paradox Had Another ARG
Much like the first two films, The Cloverfield Paradox had an extensive viral marketing campaign. When fans started searching the internet for clues they noticed that the website for the fictional company Tagruato was still active, but there was a blurred error message that mentioned: “renewable energy” and the date April 18, 2028.
That led people to the website 04182018.com that had a short message, “That is why I'm trying to warn you about the dangers of what Tagruato is trying to do”. The Tagruato website was continually updated with a press release from the future talking about “Cloverfield Energy” and blurred messages from T.I.D.O. Wave. Bad Robot even went to San Diego Comic-Con and handed out Slusho! drinks.
J.J. Abrams Had Considered A Team-Up Movie
While The Cloverfield Paradox seemed to create more questions than answers, it did start to connect the Cloverfield franchise. None of the characters from the first two films returned for the third (except for Suzanne Cryer’s unnamed character), but there was at one point an idea for a team-up film.
During a Facebook Q&A for The Cloverfield Paradox, J.J. Abrams commented that they had ideas for crossing the stories of Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winestead) and Hamilton (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). Unfortunately, the idea never got off the ground, but maybe it could happen in Cloverfield 4.
Howard Stambler’s Brother Appears In The Film
While Howard Stambler doesn’t appear in the film, it’s possible that his brother does. Donal Logue’s character name is Mark Stambler, which means Mark is somehow related to Howard. Both characters have insane theories about aliens and monsters, which of course end up being true.
The Cloverfield Paradox takes place around the year 2028, so the logical answer is that the two are brothers since Logue is roughly the same age as Goodman. Both characters were a big part of their film’s viral marketing campaign, although Mark Stambler has a significantly smaller role in The Cloverfield Paradox than Howard Stambler had in 10 Cloverfield Lane.
That’s Not The Same Monster From The First Film
Despite fans going into 10 Cloverfield Lane knowing that J.J. Abrams called the film a “blood-relative” to the first film, fans were still expecting to see Clover in the sequel. While 10 Cloverfield Lane still had aliens, it wasn’t the monster from the first film that fans have grown to love.
A monster of the same species appears in the final shot of The Cloverfield Paradox, but it is not the monster from the first film. The original Cloverfield monster was just a baby, but the monster from the third film looks significantly bigger.
Simon Pegg Makes A Cameo
Simon Pegg has been in several different types of movies in his career, but he often appears in films that J.J. Abrams directs or produces. These films include four Mission Impossible movies, all three of the Star Trek films, and Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens. Most people probably missed it, but Pegg has a cameo in The Cloverfield Paradox, you just can’t see him.
The very first line of the movie is actually Pegg talking about the Cloverfield space station and the Shepard Particle Accelerator. Pegg may not have a very big role, but having a big star like Pegg in the film could have been distracting from what the film was trying to achieve.
The Film Was Delayed Multiple Times
Even though The Cloverfield Paradox was released only two years after 10 Cloverfield Lane, it seemed like an eternity for Cloverfield fans. The God Particle was originally going to be released in February 2017, less than a year after 10 Cloverfield Lane. The film was then delayed until Fall 2017, then until February 2018, and finally April 2018.
These delays were hard for fans, especially since The God Particle was known to be Cloverfield 3 prior to release. 10 Cloverfield Lane got a surprise trailer in front of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, but fans had to endure several delays knowing Cloverfield 3 was on the way.
The Script Was Written in 2008
While it's now known that The God Particle wasn't originally a Cloverfield movie, it may surprise some people to know that the film was originally being written in 2008. Oren Uziel was responsible for writing The Cloverfield Paradox, which he revealed he began working on around 2008.
This means that the film was being written when the first Cloverfield was released, solidifying the fact that The God Particle was not originally a Cloverfield film. In fact, Gugu Mbatha-Raw didn’t even know how The God Particle fit into the Cloverfield universe when they were filming.