Less than a week after the premiere of The Cloverfield Paradox on Netflix, series producer J.J. Abrams is already looking ahead to the franchise’s next installment: Overlord.
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“First of all it’s something that I can’t wait for you to see, ’cause the director, Julius Avery, has done an amazing job on it,” Abrams told Digital Spy. “But the specifics, you know, we should wait and see. But that’s really a crazy movie.”
The World War II-set Overlord, which is reportedly completed and expected to reach theaters in October, follows American paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines on the eve of D-Day. Approaching their target on a mission crucial to the invasion’s success, the soldiers begin to realize there is more going on in the Nazi-occupied village than a simple military operation — only to find themselves combating supernatural forces as part of a Nazi experiment.
Among its cast are Bokeem Woodbine (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Ian De Caestecker (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones), Jovan Adepo (Fences) and Wyatt Russell (Ingrid Goes West).
Notorious for his “mystery box” approach and its resulting secrecy, Abrams drew issue with Netflix advertising The Cloverfield Paradox during Super Bowl 52, preferring for the movie to have instead dropped without forewarning after the big game.
“It didn’t really feel like it was any fun to release [The Cloverfield Paradox] with everybody knowing that it was coming,” Abrams said.
“Could we possibly do this and keep it a secret and release the thing in the way we did? That felt to me like that’s the spirit of these movies, that’s the spirit of the series. So to talk about what the next one is and what’s going to happen sort of feels counter intuitive.”
Despite Abrams playing his cards close to the chest, Overlord‘s theatrical release suggests audiences will have at least some idea of what to expect before buying tickets in October.
A theatrical run further suggests Paramount — who offloaded Paradox to streaming service Netflix for more than $50 million, following the studio’s struggling year at the 2017 box office — has more faith in Overlord, enough to release it to theaters.
Internet sleuths may have already figured out the identity of a fifth Cloverfield movie, Bad Robot’s Kolma, which will see Star Wars leading lady Daisy Ridley in the starring role.
The Cloverfield Paradox is now streaming on Netflix. Abrams will next return to a galaxy far, far away to helm Star Wars: Episode IX for Disney.
