Goosebumps 2, which is tentatively known as Goosebumps: Slappy's Revenge, reportedly revolves around a brand new group of human characters and may not even bring back Jack Black as the real life creator of the Goosebumps franchise, R.L. Stine. Once upon a time, the Goosebumps movie sequel was scheduled to hit theaters this month (last Friday, to be exact) and would have been titled Goosebumps: HorrorLand, based after the Goosebumps HorrorLand spinoff book series that Stine published in the late 2000s. Obviously that didn't happen, and it's been a waiting game to find out what shape the sequel will take and when it will arrive, ever since.

The first Goosebumps movie grossed $150 million worldwide against a modest $58 million budget and was mostly praised by critics for its kid-friendly spin on the supernatural horror genre, so the incentive has always been there for Sony to make a sequel. However, now that more than two years have passed since the first installment was released in theaters, it seems that the followup may serve as something of a soft reboot for the franchise.

Related: Goosebumps 2 Gets a New Director

Omega Underground is reporting that the Goosebumps: Slappy's Revenge plot revolves around Slappy the evil ventriloquist dummy being brought back to life and using his powers to unleash the apocalypse on Halloween night, with the help of a (possibly also resurrected) Nikola Tesla. Moreover, the story apparently pits a brand new group of young protagonists against Slappy, including 17-year old Sarah and her brother Sonny, as well as Sonny's best friend Sam.

While Black is expected to reprise his voice role as Slappy in the Goosebumps sequel, there is no mention of him coming back as R.L. Stine in Omega Underground's report. The first movie introduced the idea that Stine began writing the Goosebumps books after the monsters that he imagined when he was a troubled child started coming to life in the real world, and uses the original manuscripts for his novels to magically trap the creatures. Stine played an essential role in the first film for that reason, but it's been rumored that there the character may not appear in Goosebumps 2 at all, depending on which script draft is used.

If the idea is to start with a fresh new cast of kid characters, then it only makes for Black's version of R.L. Stine to play a smaller role in Goosebumps 2, considering that the first movie left him in a (mostly) happy place with little obvious room for character growth. It's been indicated that Sony is also seeking to cut costs on the sequel, which would further account for Black playing a less significant role and none of his costars from the original film (Dylan Minnette, Amy Ryan, Odeya Rush, Jillian Bell) returning, this time around.

MORE: Goosebumps 2 Release Date Moves Closer to Halloween

More on the Goosebumps sequel as the story develops.

Source: Omega Underground