It’s been said that stories hurt and stories heal, and for a lot of us, it’s been hurting to not know what happened to Auggie (Gabriel Rush) and Chuck (Austin Zajur) at the end of 2019’sScary Stories to Tell in the Dark. And you know what would heal it? A sequel.Perhaps one that was greenlit all the way back in 2020that has — much like the fates of Auggie and Chuck — fallen into a development purgatory over the last few years. From the mega pause that the first year of COVID put on the entertainment industry to last year’s historic actors’ and writers’ strikes,André Øvredal’s follow-up feature has been trying to keep its wick lit to burn through the darkest nights. But, when will the pages turn to introduce the next creatures first brought to life by authorAlvin Schwartz? Well, according to the brotherly duo of writers behindScary Stories,DanandKevin Hageman, the gears are turning, but they’re still “in the dark.”
During a chat withCollider’s Lead News Editor,Maggie Lovitt, during which the trio mostly talked about the Hagemans’ work onStar Trek: Prodigy, Lovitt took one for theScary Storieslovers out there and put the siblings on the spot, pushing for something, anything, about the sequel. “I don’t know.I think we’re in the dark,” Dan Hageman said when pressed for information aboutScary Stories 2. Giving us the biggest tease we’ve had since the pair last spoke with Lovittwhen they confirmed that the project was still in the works,Kevin Hageman continued:
“It’s stalled right now. We actually don’t know. We wrote a draft, Guillermo [del Toro] had a story direction of where to take it…”
And just like that, Dan Hageman reeled him back in with a gentle reminder, “We can’t get too much into it, Kevin.” Recoiling a bit, Kevin Hageman backtracked:
“No, we can’t get into it, butwe wrote something, and that’s the last we know. We know a lot of people liked it, but we also know that nothing’s happening right now. [Laughs] We’re in the dark with you guys.”
Why Is the Sequel Taking So Long?
Aside from the triple whammy of COVID and the actors’ and writers’ strikes, there have been several other major shifts and changes that have putScary Stories 2on the back burner. For starters, the production’s director, Øvredal, wasbusy at work for the last few yearsdeveloping the creature feature,The Last Voyage of the Demeter. In that time,the project jumped from Lionsgate to Paramount, something the Hagemans revealed to Lovitt back in 2022, when they informed her that they would be meeting with Øvredal the following night to swap someScary Storiesover dinner, even then confirming that they had been “actively working on a script.”
What a ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ Sequel Could Look Like
Straight from the pages of Schwartz’s beloved spooky children’s books to the big screen,the possibilities forScary Stories 2are practically endlesswhen you consider the different alleys that Stella (Zoe Colletti), her father Roy (Dean Norris), and Chuck’s sister, Ruth (Natalie Ganzhorn) could pursue while trying to find Chuck and Auggie. Above all,Øvredal promised Collider’s Perri Nemiroff back in 2020, that the haunting visual art drawn up byStephen Gammellto accompany Schwartz’s spooky tales would be their primary focus this time around, with the director noting, “I do think that we’ll tap even more into [illustrator Stephen] Gammell’s visual world in the sequel than we did in the first movie.” And, again, with the Hagemans still teasing del Toro’s involvement in the long overdue sequel, we’re sure the monster maestro will be able to whip up some real dream destroyers with this one.
Stay tuned for Lovitt’s full interview with the Hagemans tomorrow. You can streamScary Stories to Tell in the Darknow on Netflix and Prime Video. Stay tuned to Collider for more information surrounding the hopeful sequel.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
On Halloween 1968, Stella and her two friends meet a mysterious drifter, Ramón, and uncover a sinister notebook of stories.
Watch On Netflix
