The original Cloverfield is finally getting a direct sequel

Cloverfield
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

A Cloverfield sequel is in the works, according to THR.

The Cloverfield sequel reportedly won't be a found-footage movie like its predecessor, nor will it bring back Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. Joe Barton, who recently became the new showrunner for the upcoming HBO Max prequel series to Reeves' The Batman, is penning the Cloverfield sequel script, while J.J. Abrams is returning to produce under his Bad Robot Productions banner.

We don't have any concrete plot or cast details just yet, but it is being described as a sequel, so presumably it'll take place after the events of the original Cloverfield, which ended with a clear suggestion that the giant monster terrorizing New York City is still alive.

Cloverfield was one of the most talked-about horror movies of 2008, thanks in-part to a viral marketing campaign that ran cryptic teasers before showings of major theatrical releases like Transformers and Beowulf. The movie eventually spawned a franchise with 2016's 10 Cloverfield Lane and 2018's The Cloverfield Paradox, but those movies tell self-contained stories without any obvious connection to 2008's Cloverfield, so a direct sequel should be a gift to fans of the series.

It doesn't sound like there's a director nailed down just yet, but in a 2019 interview with GamesRadar, 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg had this to say about a potential Cloverfield sequel: "The answer to making a sequel to that movie or another thing, yeah totally," he said. "It's fun to joke around, like, 'What if in the next one this happened?' Over the years there's been several that were, 'Oh, that'd be cool!' But nothing that's crystallized into, 'Oh, we definitely want to do that.' And JJ [Abrams] of course has to wrap his brain around what he wants to do with that stuff."

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Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.