The newly revealed Ready Player Two plot synopsis teases how the sci-fi story continues. Published in 2011, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One presented a dystopian future vision in which much of humanity has become addicted to the OASIS, a virtual reality world filled with pop culture avatars from throughout history where gamers compete to discover a final prize-unlocking Easter egg left behind by the simulation’s creator, an eccentric genius cut from the same cloth as Willy Wonka.

Ready Player One indeed seemed written just to be made into a movie, and that was exactly how things played out when Steven Spielberg directed the 2018 adaptation, which went on to gross $582 million worldwide. After the movie’s reasonable success, Cline quickly went to work on a follow-up novel, which is now finished and set to be released on November 24, 2020. Thus far there has been no confirmation that a second film is itself in the works, but with the book finished the story is now in place and presumably a script will soon follow (if one hasn’t already been crafted).

Related: Ready Player One: The COMPLETE Easter Egg Guide

The actual specifics on the story Cline dreamed up for his follow-up had been kept entirely under wraps, but that changed Friday morning when Wil Wheaton revealed a Ready Player Two synopsis during a New York Comic Con panel featuring Cline himself. The action of the sequel in fact picks up almost immediately after Wade Watts' triumph at the end of the first story, as revealed in the synopsis (via Polygon):

Days after OASIS founder James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday’s vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS more wondrous — and addictive — then even Wade dreamed possible. With it comes a new riddle and a new quest, a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize, and an unexpected, impossibly powerful, new and dangerous rival awaits, one who will kill millions to get what he wants. Wade’s life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time, the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.

Ready Player One Key Art No Logo

Fans of course remember that at the end of the first Ready Player One, Wade Watts (played in the movie by Tye Sheridan) discovered Halliday’s final Easter egg, a call back to the ancient Atari game Adventure, and won control over the OASIS which he elected to share with his friends the High-5 in hopes of making both the online and real worlds better places for everyone. It seems that in Cline’s sequel, the battle to improve humanity’s lot by dialing back the influence of the OASIS will become increasingly complicated with the arrival of this new, more addictive version of the world. The overall plot of the sequel indeed sounds quite similar to the first story, with another Easter egg emerging and another prize at stake (but of course the sequel raises the stakes by placing the fate of humanity in the balance).

At least going by that brief synopsis, Cline has come up with a sequel story that could easily be translated to film, if indeed the decision is made to go forward with a movie. It remains to be seen if Spielberg himself would sign on to direct again, but frankly his direction was not a hugely evident factor in the original film, which depended much more on computer effects and endless barrages of film references than down-to-earth storytelling. Of course, some argued the movie went so far in delivering epic CGI and constant Easter eggs that it became overwhelming. Cline’s sequel story definitely seems to up the ante on everything Ready Player One brought to the table, so it’s almost assured a Ready Player Two movie would itself become even more nostalgic and spectacular, perhaps not for the better.

More: Screen Rant’s New York Comic Con 2020 Guide

Source: Polygon