Neil Gaiman Speaks Out on Possible Coraline Sequel
Though only a handful of Neil Gaiman's books have been adapted into films, one of the earliest remains the fan favorite, 2009's stop-motion animated Coraline. Directed by Henry Selick the movie marked the first feature film from animation house Laika and was even nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. With the book first published in 2002 and the feature film arriving seven years later, there remains high interest not only in the story itself but in Gaiman perhaps making a follow-up. Speaking in a new interview with ComicBook.com, Gaiman reiterated past comments about Coraline 2 but also noted that he "absolutely wouldn't rule it out."
"What I've always said is that I wouldn't have do a Coraline 2 unless I could come up with a story that was as good as Coraline 1," Gaiman confirmed. "And so far I haven't come up with (anything)...Actually, as good or better because you don't want to do, you just don't want to do one of those sequels that sort of feels like a made for video sequel. If you're gonna do something, it needs to be a Toy Story 2 or The Godfather Part 2 level sequel where you're actually upping your game. So I absolutely wouldn't rule it out, but would absolutely want to go 'Okay, that is the thing that is just even cooler than Coraline.'"
To Gaiman's point, fans likely have the same threshold for reading or watching a Coraline 2 as he does for wanting to write one. In years past when rumors popped up about a live-action version of the story (which weren't true) a minor riot erupted online.
Considering the prolific output Gaiman has released throughout his career as an author it's a little surprising that the number of direct sequels to his books is...minimal. Announcements have been made about follow-ups to Good Omens, American Gods, and Neverwhere, but they've yet to be published. The second season of Good Omens on Amazon Prime Video will seemingly tell the story that would have been the novel's sequel, while American Gods was cancelled before it could make it to the narrative of the long talked about American Gods 2.
Netflix's adaptation of The Sandman however, something that has been in the works for decades, marks the latest success story for the author. Gaiman's comics have been around for three decades and he's witnessed first hands the attempts at bringing it to life in live-action that nearly failed.
