In 2015, Tom Quinn of Neon suggested to Entertainment Weekly that an “It Follows” sequel could focus on the entity being chased. “Flip the title,” Quinn suggested at the time. “There’s so much you could do.”
The implication was that the sequel would be titled “Follow It,” in the sense that Maika Monroe’s Jay and the rest of the ensemble would go after the entity. It (no pun intended) remains to be seen if that’s the direction the sequel goes in. Seeing as the film is titled “They Follow,” it’s likely that the “they” is Jay and her friends. However, no one from the original cast besides Monroe has signed on for the sophomore outing.
As crazy as it is to say, “It Follows” is no longer the fresh horror flick off the block. It’s been almost 10 years since the film hit cinemas, and a number of other genre-defining projects like “Hereditary” and “Barbarian” have come out since “It Follows” dominated the conversation. Nostalgia is powerful and Neon greenlighting a sequel is a brilliant move, considering that “They Follow” will probably end up being a legacy sequel. Yes, it’s only been eight years and some change at the time of writing, but that’s a lifetime in horror. The “Scream” franchise got its legacy reboot/sequel in 2022, or 11 years after “Scream IV.”
This seems like the best time to put all your chips on horror, as the genre is making considerable waves at the box office post-pandemic. Horror has accounted for nearly $800 million of the domestic box office in 2023 — that’s a 26% increase from 2022, an already solid year for the genre. If all goes well, “They Follow” could be another hit for Neon and director David Robert Mitchell.
