On your feet, maggot! Deadline is reporting that Edge of Tomorrow 2 is beginning to pick up steam, after the sci-fi sequel recently plucked Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse to pen the script.
They’ll be working under Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation director Christopher McQuarrie, who will pick up the reins from Doug Liman after penning the original sleeper hit. Based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s mind-bending novel All You Need is Kill, which was once the title of Liman’s actioner during its formative days, Edge of Tomorrow thrusted Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt into a full-scale alien war, with the remnants of humanity desperately scrapping for survival.
That all-hands-on-deck tactic resulted in waves upon waves of foot soldiers being deployed against the mimics, a seemingly invincible alien race mobilized by a hive mind hellbent on world domination. But here’s the kicker: Tom Cruise was able to exploit a scientific anomaly wherein he could loop back to a certain point in the past just as he died, paving the way for a smart and competent sci-fi thriller.
Thanks to a strong performance overseas, pushing ahead with a sequel suddenly became a viable option, though Shrapnel and Waterhouse will have to carve out a new story based in the Edge of Tomorrow universe, given how the first film appeared to tie up most of the loose ends.
According to McQuarrie, however, Cruise has been nurturing an idea for the sequel for some time, and his Mission: Impossible and Jack Reacher cohort ultimately helped convinced him to direct.
“Edge of Tomorrow was so hard and was so draining. When we went out to dinner when we were making Mission and Tom said, ‘I have an idea for the sequel to Edge,’ and I said, ‘I don’t want to f***ing hear it. I do not want to know!’ And he pitched the idea to me and he finished pitching it, I was like, ‘Why did you do that?’”
Edge of Tomorrow 2 is beginning to set the wheels in motion, but do you feel a sequel is really necessary? Let us know your thoughts below.