Interstellar 2: Will We Ever Get To See The Sequel?
It's been nearly six years since Interstellar, Christopher Nolan's sci-fi space epic starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, graced silver screens worldwide. Featuring McConaughey as widowed engineer and ex-NASA pilot Joseph Cooper and Hathaway as scientist Dr. Amelia Brand, Interstellar followed the central characters as they and a group of fellow astronauts and scientists board the spaceship Endurance on a mission to travel through a wormhole near Saturn and survey 12 worlds that humanity could move to, abandoning the increasingly inhabitable Earth. The film grossed nearly $678 million at the global box office, and earned accolade upon accolade during the 2014-2015 awards season — including an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
In the half-decade-plus following Interstellar's October 2014 debut, it seems everyone has wondered whether Nolan would go back into the depths of space, toy with time, and tug on heartstrings with an Interstellar sequel. But what are the chances that will actually happen? Will we ever get to see Interstellar 2?
Well, Nolan hasn't confirmed or denied that a second Interstellar is in the stars, but there's some information lingering out there that helps us answer the big question.
Matthew McConaughey has expressed interest in making a second Interstellar movie
McConaughey revealed in November of 2014 that he's open to signing on for a second Interstellar movie, should the opportunity arise and if everything about the project feels right. When Sky News asked him whether viewers would get to see an Interstellar sequel with him reprising his role, McConaughey said, "It's possible, I'd have to go through the due diligence I always do — script, director, et cetera, but it's possible."
He also shared with IGN that same month that things were "teed up for [the] possibility" of an Interstellar 2, for "life to carry on and adventures to carry on."
McConaughey's comments obviously show that he's interested in making an Interstellar sequel (or at least was as of November 2014), which is noteworthy considering the actor has never been a part of a film franchise. A potential Interstellar sequel would change that, marking a first in McConaughey's decades-long career. That McConaughey is down to do a sequel shows that he truly believes in Interstellar as a property — and, you know, actor enthusiasm is a pretty big thing when it comes to getting a follow-up film going.
Would an Interstellar sequel make sense, and would people want to see it?
Both McConaughey and Jonathan Nolan's remarks highlight something very important when it comes to discussing sequels: whether one would make any sense at all. McConaughey noted that the script would have to be rock-solid in order for him to join the Interstellar sequel, meaning that he's not going to go running to the project if the story is even slightly flimsy. And with Interstellar, a second movie could very much be limp, uninspired, or, worse yet, forced. Considering where Interstellar left off, there isn't a lot that Nolan — or any other writer-director for that matter — could do with a sequel. Sure, it could deal with Cooper's relationship with Amelia Brand and chronicle their time on Dr. Wolf Edmunds' planet, but is that something people would be interesting in seeing? On the other hand, an Interstellar follow-up could be more of a spin-off movie — possibly centered around Cooper's son, Tom — or it might go the prequel-sequel route.
Of course, the question of audience interest applies with these possibilities. It appears that the Interstellar fandom is split. Some, like Reddit user u/bearcat27, are clamoring for a second Interstellar film; they wrote in a forum post, "High on my hardcore Interstellar fanboy wishlist is a sequel, just to tell the story of Cooper's journey back to Brand and to see what life is like on this new planet. Interstellar, unlike Nolan's other films, hints at a story in the future, but leaves the viewer to fill in the gaps. It just seems cruel to me that the last scene is sending Cooper on a journey that we'll never get to experience." Others hope that Interstellar 2 never happens; one fan posted on Reddit, "I feel a sequel would ruin the first film tremendously."
As is one of his signatures, Christopher Nolan tied up Interstellar in the exact way he wanted to — with a happier ending that wasn't all doom and gloom as the original script he wrote with Jonathan Nolan. It stands to reason that, when it comes to possibly making Interstellar 2, if Nolan wants to do it, he will. For right now, it looks like an Interstellar sequel is nothing more than a hypothetical — though Nolan might end up surprising us and taking a stab at a second movie, provided he actually has more to say about humanity, love, and space.