As fans anxiously wait to hear what Quentin Tarantino will do for his next and reportedly final film, there has been some exciting recent news from the acclaimed filmmaker. Tarantino has signed a deal to write a novel expanding on his most recent movie, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.
The novel is rumored to explore Rick Dalton's career in Spaghetti Westerns, which was briefly featured in the film. As exciting as this is, it also opens up the possibility of Tarantino revisiting some of his other classic characters in book form and continuing their stories or fleshing out their backstories. And there are a number of his characters fans would love to see get this treatment.
Shoshanna - Inglourious Basterds (2009)
While the trailers and advertising teased Inglourious Basterds to follow a team of Jewish American soldiers during World War II, the real protagonist was a young Jewish French woman named Shoshanna.
The audience meets Shoshanna in the movie's brilliant opening scene when her family is murdered by Nazis. We catch up with her several years later during the war where she is living under a new identity and managing a movie theater. It would be fascinating to see Shoshanna's journey from that tragedy to how she established this new undercover life.
Winston Wolfe - Pulp Fiction (1994)
In one of Pulp Fiction's most memorable stories, hitmen Vincent and Jules find themselves in a messy situation and need help disposing of a dead body. Their help arrives in the form of Winston Wolfe, a fixer who takes a calm, no-nonsense approach to even the direst problems.
Clearly, this is not the first time Winston has done such a job. Tarantino could have a lot of fun with a novel that follows Mr. Wolfe as he goes to various jobs and uses his particular set of skills to handle sticky situations.
Zoe - Death Proof (2007)
Though it is likely the least popular of Tarantino's movies, Death Proof is still a really fun throwback car chase movie. In the film's most thrilling scene, stuntwoman Zoe Bell, who plays herself in the film, is on the hood of a car going at top speed as they are chased by a madman.
Tarantino obviously has a fascination with stunt performers and has worked with Bell many times. He could develop a novel about her fictional exploits in which she is a stunt performer by day and a total badass by night.
Major Marquis Warren - The Hateful Eight (2015)
Tarantino returned to the Western genre with The Hateful Eight. The movie deals with a number of dangerous characters trapped together in a cabin during a blizzard, but the most compelling character of all is Major Marquis Warren.
Warren is a Union officer who reached a rank few Black men had during the Civil War and that made him quite a target. Throughout the movie, we hear hints of his exploits during and after the war, any of which would make for a great Western novel.
Cliff Booth - Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood (2019)
It's still unclear if Rick Dalton's stuntman best friend will factor heavily into Tarantino's new novel, but he should definitely get his own story to explore his crazy and violent life. Cliff is another mysterious man whose backstory is given to the audience in pieces.
Along with the lingering question of whether or not he killed his wife, Cliff is also a war hero. That seems like the most interesting grounds for Tarantino to explore with the character and would allow him to write another war epic.
Mr. Pink - Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Tarantino's debut film is about a group of criminals following a heist gone wrong. In the end, all of the thieves are dead, except for Mr. Pink, who happens to be the most entertaining of the group.
Given that Pink was surely arrested, a novel could follow his life after the heist. One exciting idea is following the character in prison as he and some other inmates plan an escape. That could make for a really fun pulp story.
Django - Django Unchained (2012)
In Django Unchained, Jamie Foxx plays the titular slave who is given his freedom by a bounty hunter whom he partners with as they attempt to find and free his enslaved wife, Broomhilda. While things don't go smoothly, Django does manage to rescue Broomhilda and prove himself to be the fastest gun in the South.
It would be a thrill to get further Western adventures with Django and Broomhilda. Now that he has established himself as one of the greatest gunslingers, this could be a bloody and wild story.
Nikki - Kill Bill (2003)
One of the many potential projects Tarantino has teased over the years is a return to the world of Kill Bill to tell the story of young Nikki, the daughter of Vernita Green. Early in the movie, The Bride comes to visit with Vernita, a former colleague who tried to kill her. After a brutal fight, The Bride kills Vernita and Nikki sees it. The Bride tells Nikki if she is still mad about it when she's older, she can come looking for her.
Instead of this being Tarantino's final film project, it might make for a fun book. We can see how Nikki has coped with her mother's death and her path to possible revenge against The Bride.
Jules Winnfield - Pulp Fiction (1994)
Jules Winnfield is introduced in Pulp Fiction as a cool and collected hitman. But after surviving an unexpected situation, he quickly develops a new lease on life. He decides to leave the world of crime behind and live a simpler existence.
As Jules explains, he plans to just "walk the Earth."A novel following Jules as he travels around the world, going on adventures, and helping people could be really entertaining. It would also be a different kind of Tarantino story.
Aldo Raine - Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Oftentimes, Tarantino will include aspects to his characters that hint at thrilling backstories that are never explored. It adds to the characters on screen and gets the audience thinking about their own adventures outside of the movie.
In Inglourious Basterds, Lt. Aldo Raine is seen with a rope burn across his neck, which suggests he survived a hanging in his past. His backstory also hints that he worked as a bootlegger. Such an entertaining character with such a colorful background would be a blast to revisit.