More than 40 years after the original film, director John Carpenter teases that The Thing 2 might actually happen. Released in 1982, The Thing follows a research team in Antarctica as they are hunted by an alien that can adopt the appearances of its victims. A prequel to the sci-fi horror classic was released in 2011, but the film earned mostly negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb.

Now, however, speaking at Texas Frightmare Weekend (via Creepy Catalog), Carpenter teases that a direct sequel to The Thing could still happen. When a fan asks for Carpenter to weigh in on the film's ambiguous ending regarding which of the surviving characters is the alien creature, the filmmaker stays mum, revealing that the true answer could be revealed in a potential follow-up. Check out Carpenter's full comment below:

“I have been sworn to secrecy, okay, because there may be, I don’t know if there will be, there may be a Thing 2."

Is The Thing 2 A Good Idea?

While, in the mid-2000s, the prospect of a prequel to The Thing was an interesting idea, the end result in 2011 proved that the material would've been best left alone. Not only was the ending already basically known, but the film felt more like a rehash of things that the original did better. Crucially, the prequel opted to use mostly CGI for its creature effects, which paled in comparison to the gooey and disturbing practical effects used on the original The Thing decades earlier.

It's certainly possible that a direct sequel would learn from the prequel's failings, but the ambiguous nature of The Thing's ending is also part of its charm. After most of the researchers have been killed and the station itself destroyed, only MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Childs (Keith David) remain, with either one potentially the alien creature in disguise. It might be better off if The Thing's ending is left intact, with no sequel ruining what made the original so iconic.

That being said, The Thing 2 is also an exciting proposition. If a follow-up movie does happen, it could see the alien creature escape the small Arctic research base and perhaps travel, via rescue party, to the nearest town or village, thus maintaining the original film's frigid atmosphere. It's unclear if this potential sequel is different from the planned reboot of The Thing from Blumhouse or if that's what the reboot has since morphed into, but the news is sure to be exciting for those who want to see the story continued.

Source: Texas Frightmare Weekend (via Creepy Catalog)