Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson returned to his roots as a horror filmmaker with the release of The Black Phone last month – serving up a chilling adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story of the same name.
The movie saw him reteam with Ethan Hawke – who had previously starred in his 2012 film Sinister – with the Before Sunrise star this time playing against type as a horrifying masked serial killer.
Given it has performed rather well both at the box office and with critics, fans will naturally be wondering if there’s a chance of returning to the world any time soon, and indeed the director himself has hinted at the possibility.
Read on for everything you need to know about the possibility of a sequel to The Black Phone – and be warned that there are major spoilers for the first film ahead.
Will there be a Black Phone 2?
Given that The Black Phone ended with Ethan Hawke’s villain being well and truly defeated, you might not think there’s much scope for a follow-up film.
But both Derrickson and Hawke have admitted that they’re open to coming back for more – with the former revealing he’s already been in touch with author Joe Hill about a possible idea for a sequel.
“Joe Hill pitched me a wonderful idea for a sequel to The Black Phone that, if this movie does well, I’m gonna do it,” he told ComicBook.com. “He’s got a great idea, I really liked it.
“Joe’s very protective and personal about his material, but he came to me with the idea and I was like, ‘That’s how you do a sequel to Black Phone. That’s terrific,’” he added.
Meanwhile, when asked if he’d like to star in a sequel, Hawke responded: “If Scott was involved, yeah…
“Sometimes sequels feel borne out of a storyteller’s necessity to continue talking to you. And sometimes they feel borne out of a desire to make money off of the same poster again. So I want to be the first, there’s a difference.”
Therefore it looks like a sequel could well be a goer – especially given the first film has performed well at the box office.
The Black Phone 2 release date speculation
Given a sequel is far from being confirmed at this stage, it’s likely we won’t know anything about a possible release date for some time yet.
That said, any follow-up probably wouldn’t arrive for at least another two years – especially when you take into account all the time needed for development, filming, and post-production.
Summer 2024 is therefore probably the very earliest we can expect to see a new Black Phone film, but we’ll keep you updated should things become more clear.
The Black Phone 2 cast
We’d expect some of the stars of the original to return – especially child actors Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw, who brilliantly led the cast of the first film as siblings Finney and Gwen.
While Hawke has expressed a desire to appear in more films, there would have to be some supernatural shenanigans at play in order for his character The Grabber to be involved given his death at the end of the first film – but that’s certainly a possibility.
It’s altogether less likely that James Ransone would return as his brother Max – who was also killed off – but Jeremy Davies could well be back as Terrence, Finney and Gwen’s alcoholic father.
And of course we’d expect some new faces as well – perhaps even another A-lister as a brand new villain…
The Black Phone 2 plot
It remains to be seen what Joe Hill’s aforementioned sequel idea involves – but there’s a chance it could see a resurrected Grabber haunting more children beyond the grave.
Alternatively, perhaps it could serve as a prequel to the events of the first film – sketching in the villain’s backstory and the origins of his evil.
Should any further details emerge, we’ll post them here, so do keep checking back.
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