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Life screenwriter discusses idea for amped-up sequel

‘Life’, the ‘Alien’-inspired sci-fi thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds, may get the sequel treatment, if its writers have anything to do with it.

There are certainly doubts over ‘Life’s franchise potential, but wrtier Rhett Reese still has an idea about how the story could continue.

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Warning: Full spoilers for the end of ‘Life’ follow.

At the end of the film, surviving astronauts David (Gyllenhaal) and Miranda (Rebecca Ferguson) try and fail to contain and destroy the alien beastie that’s killed their friends and trashed the International Space Station.

The plan to save Miranda and get her back to Earth is thrown into chaos, and the result is the alien (called Calvin, a name chosen by a group of school children back when it wasn’t killing everyone) and David ending up back on Earth.

As the escape capsule is discovered, David pleads with local fishermen not to open it and unwittingly unleash Calvin on the world, where he may well be capable of wiping out life on Earth.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Reese says: “Just the fact that Calvin can now possibly reproduce, I think, is an interesting idea. We’ve dropped him in a situation that is teaming with life to hunt and to eat. That being the ocean, or the coast of Indonesia or Vietnam or wherever we are saying he’s landed. So that opens it up right there.

“The question is, how would the Earth react? Obviously, this was an international effort, so there are a lot of countries cooperating. And again, they would be trying to contain this thing from moving forward and yet there might be more Calvins to deal with. To us, that screams interesting sequel.”

It may not sound it, but ‘Life’ isn’t begging for a sequel by its end, it is a self-contained creature feature that works perfectly well as a solo work.

“We always wanted it to end in a creepy fashion that set up at least the possibility for future movies and the script is very much a seesaw between Calvin having an advantage and the astronauts having an advantage.

“We always wanted them to be smart, but then a new problem present itself so when they got out of the frying pan they found themselves in the fire. And it just so happened that the last twist was that despite all their best intentions, Calvin was once again once step ahead of them at the end of the movie.”

There are certainly ideas that could be mined for a sequel, and Reese’s idea certainly sounds like it would lend itself to a more action-orientated follow-up. The ‘Aliens’ to ‘Life’s ‘Alien if you will, which given how much the new owes Ridley Scott’s classic, is quite apt.

‘Life’ is in cinemas now.

'Girl on the Train' star Rebecca Ferguson plays ISS newcomer Dr. Miranda North in 'Life' (Sony Pictures)
‘Girl on the Train’ star Rebecca Ferguson plays ISS newcomer Dr. Miranda North in ‘Life’ (Sony Pictures)