Alex Garland Is Not Interested In An Annihilation Sequel

Annihilation

author - director Alex Garland say he has no interest in making a continuation toAnnihilation , his critically praised 2018 sci - fi horror film starring Natalie Portman . After establishing his sci - fi credentials take on compose duties on films fromSunshinetoNever Let Me GotoDredd , Garland made the jump to directing withEx Machina , the 2014 picture show starring Alicia Vikander as an android who develops sentience .

After the success ofEx Machina , Garland next tackledAnnihilation , an version of the Jeff VanderMeer novel about a group of female scientist - soldier entering a forbidden geographical zone and encountering a deathly alien menace . Thoughcritics gush aboutAnnihilation’scombination of sci - fi revulsion , part play and philosophy , audiences failed to embrace the film and it gross only $ 42 million domestically . Many overseas watcher never got to see the film in theater at all , after Paramount swerve an international distribution deal with Netflix .

Related:How The Annihilation Movie Differs From The Book

Despite the movie ’s miserable corner office return , there has been treatment aboutAnnihilationreceiving a sequel , as VanderMeer actually wrote an entire trilogy of books . For his part though , Garland has no interest in revisit the property and take a firm stand he has completely moved on . Speaking toIndieWireahead of the plastic film ’s Blu - ray release , Garland pronounce he has no problem with someone else undertake anAnnihilationsequel . But he himself will have no engagement .

" When the matter is done , I am done with it . I directly lead off moving on , so I do n’t even have an view on an Annihilation sequel . All the way through I was clean with everyone , from the studio to the cast , I differentiate everyone that I did n’t really see it as part of a enfranchisement . My destination was to make this film and do the in force chore I can . I did n’t even conceptualize it as the start of a trilogy . Sequels are just not something I ’m interested in doing . It ’s like when you do n’t like steak , you do n’t make the decision not to eat steak , you just do n’t eat steak . I just do n’t do sequels . ”

Garland mouth of not liking subsequence mostly , but it ’s also honest that his experience onAnnihilationwas specifically unpleasant . Not only did Garland clash with Paramount over the movie ’s tale , after it was deem " too intellectual " by EXEC , he also expresseddispleasure with the Netflix distribution deal . It ’s true the film curb certain"intellectual " elements , include an ending that sound echoesof Kubrick’s2001with its psychedelic imagery , but it also boasts many traditional sci - fi horror elements of the type that have thrilled interview since at least the days of Ridley Scott ’s originalAlien . It ’s arguable that with better marketing , Annihilationcould have broken through with domesticated audience who delight a proficient alien scare pic .

But even with a freehanded U.S. viewership , the picture show ’s chances of becoming an overseas hit go down aside when Paramount decided to off - debase it onto Netflix rather than risk a legitimate release . In light of the struggle Garland had to fight with Paramount over the movie ’s content and distribution , it ’s no surprise that the already sequel - averse film maker want nothing to do with a potential revisit . After the film ’s under - carrying into action , a sequel honestly seems like a very distant possibility even if there are two more books to conform .

Having now moved on fromAnnihilation , Garland has draw up a yoke of unexampled projects : the tech - worldseries seriesDevsset up at FX , and the CGI / alive - action fantasyThe Toymaker ’s Secretgoing forward at TriStarwith Paloma Baeza set to mastermind from Garland ’s script .