They Live Star Would Love to Reunite With John Carpenter

Filmmaker John Carpenter has been impressing audiences with his ambitious genre efforts for decades, with his 1988 film They Live being considered a seminal work, with its themes of subliminal messaging and capitalist control feeling more relevant today than ever. Not only can fans never get enough of Carpenter’s work, but his former collaborators are just as excited by his accomplishments, with actor Keith David recently sharing his enthusiasm to reunite with Carpenter at some point in the future. David starred not only in Carpenter’s They Live, but also his 1982 The Thing. Keith recently starred in a Season 2 episode of Creepshow, which is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.

When asked by ComicBook.com about a filmmaker he’d most like to work with again, David confirmed, “I loved working with John Carpenter. And it’s not really … it’s more sort of sci-fi than horror, necessarily. But I would love … even playing one of the creatures. I mean, getting to play one of the creatures, like from They Live, where you pull the mask off. I don’t know if it was The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits, with an episode like that, where you pulled the head back, and all of a sudden, it was like an exposed skeleton head. It was like, oh, my God.”

In the film, which is based on the 1963 short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning” by Ray Nelson, a drifter discovers that humanity has been infiltrated by otherworldly beings who have been using subliminal messages to keep the planet in line. The drifter aims to lead a resistance against the creatures, hoping to awaken them from their blissful ignorance.

Given the film’s relevance in our current cultural climate, some fans have wondered if we could ever see a sequel or a reboot of the story, with David addressing such a notion.

“Well, I can be leery about remakes, but it all depends on what you do with it,” the actor admitted. “There have been some reinventions that have been quite wonderful. Not all of them are, but I think that when filmmakers maintain the integrity of the original, and not try to make it something so vastly different. If, in fact, you’re going to do a remake, then you have to honor the integrity of the original. And when that happens, some wonderful stuff happens. You get new energy, you get new actors. But again, it’s the story that’s the star.”

While the death of David’s character Frank was implied, it wasn’t explicitly depicted, so due to the lack of a definitive death and David’s interest in special effects makeup, David joked of his character’s return in a follow-up as an alien with Carpenter directing, “Hey, man, from your lips to God’s ears,” while adding, “I would be there in a New York heartbeat.”

The home video release of Creepshow Season 2 is described, “It’s still the most fun you’ll ever have being scared! Following Creepshow Season 1’s Saturn Award 2021 win for Best DVD/BD Television Release comes the second season of Creepshow, the anthology series based on the 1982 horror-comedy classic. A comic book comes to life in nine chilling tales told across five episodes. Explore terrors ranging from murder, creatures, monsters, and delusions to the supernatural and unexplainable. You never know what will be on the next page…”

Stay tuned for details on the possible future of They Live. Creepshow Season 2 is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.

Would you like to see David team up with Carpenter again? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!