As The Nightmare Before Christmas celebrates its 30th anniversary, director Henry Selick and lead actor Chis Sarando have addressed the film's future. In an interview with People, the pair revealed that whilst they, Tim Burton, and the rest of the filmmaking team are unlikely to make a sequel, a prequel on the other hand may be on the table.
Selick explained that Burton, in particular, wouldn't want to “mess” with the original by making The Nightmare Before Christmas 2. The director said: "He certainly doesn't need to make more money from a sequel. He has had so many other successes, and so far nobody's come up with a great idea for a sequel. And I still think that Tim gets to decide. I don't think there's any idea that would convince him."
But not all is lost... "It might be more interesting to do a prequel," Selick added. "There might be a more interesting story there about how Jack became the King of Halloween Town." Now that we would like to see.
The original opens with Jack Skellington parading through the streets after another successful Halloween night. He is adored by all who live there - well, apart from Oogie Boogie. However, Jack’s rise to fame has never been explained and a prequel detailing how our Skellington savior came to be would definitely fill in some gaps.
And it looks like the leading man is also on board. Sarandon, who voiced Jack in the original, pitched in and said he would "absolutely" be on board to reprise his role, "To quote Henry, 'f*** yeah,' " he told People. "If there were a sequel, I'd be there in a minute." Since the release of the original, Sarandon has provided the character's voice for other media like video games and live shows.
But what about the creator? Burton has said many times that a sequel is out of the question but we know that is a promise he has broken before. Earlier this year it was announced that Burton and some of the original Beetlejuice cast would band together once more to create Beetlejuice 2, almost 25 years after the original. With this being said we feel we can hold out hope for another round of TNBC.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is available to stream on Disney Plus. For more fantastical flicks, check out our list of the 30 best movies on Disney Plus available to stream right now. Feeling spooky? Peruse our list of the 50 greatest Tim Burton characters of all time.
