Coraline 2 Updates: Why A Sequel May Not Happen

While the original is considered a creepy stop-motion classic, with there ever be a Coraline 2? The original Coraline was based on the Neil Gaiman novella of the same name, with The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Henry Selick directing. The story follows Coraline, a young girl who discovers an idyllic alternate world filled with doppelgangers of people she knows, including her parents.

These doppelgangers have buttons where their eyes should be but when she’s tempted to stay for good, she discovers her new parents have a very dark secret. Despite being a kids movie, Coraline deals with some dark themes and topics, in addition to featuring truly unsettling imagery. The movie was both a critical and commercial success and it was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.

Related: Hidden Details From Coraline

Coraline has built up a steady fanbase since 2009 but while the story ends on a happy note for the title character, there’s still wiggle room for a sequel, but will Coraline 2 ever happen?

Travis Knight Has Ruled Out Coraline 2

Laika is the animation studio behind Coraline, in addition to other acclaimed projects like ParaNorman and Missing Link. Travis Knight is the president and CEO of the company, and in a 2016 interview he ruled out producing follow-ups to any Laika projects. He takes a firm stand against sequels, believing too many reboots, remakes or follow-ups are produced and he wants to focus on producing fresh ideas.

That’s a pretty definitive stance, though Knight recently took the helm for Bumblebee, a reboot of the Transformers franchise, showing his viewpoint may have softened slightly. Considering the stop-motion look of Coraline added so much to the movie, it would difficult to imagine another animation studio beside Laika tackling Coraline 2.

Neil Gaiman Would Write Coraline 2 Under One Condition

Another stumbling block for a possible Coraline 2 is that Neil Gaiman hasn’t written a follow-up novel. Gaiman has been very busy in recent years on adaptations of his work, including American Gods and the miniseries Good Omens, starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen. On the topic of writing Coraline 2, Gaiman once stated in a Twitter response he’d be open to writing a sequel novel – but only if he thought of a better idea than the original book.

Given how prolific the author is elsewhere, the odds of him sitting down to write a Coraline 2 appear slim right now. While the following for the original remains strong, the lack of interest from both Laika or Gaiman in actively developing a sequel make a Coraline 2 unlikely. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen one day, possibly with a different creative time, but for now, Coraline will remain a beloved cult gem.

Next: American Gods: How Gods Are Born (And How They Die)

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3484 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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