John Carpenter has offered another update on a potential The Thing 2, telling Fan Expo Chicago attendees “We’re working on it now.” He tempered expectations, adding: “Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll see.”
What Carpenter said
The director confirmed that work on a sequel is underway, but did not promise a green light.
Context and history
This isn’t the first time Carpenter has used those words. He previously teased “We’re working on it now” during a 2025 Fan Expo appearance and has dropped cryptic hints about a possible sequel for several years. In 2023, he revealed he’d been “sworn to secrecy” because there “may be a Thing 2.” He has suggested there was another piece of the story worth exploring and noted that, as far as he’s concerned, MacReady and Childs were both alive when the credits rolled on the 1982 film. There have been attempts to keep The Thing alive since then—including a 2002 video game and a 2011 prequel—while Universal and Blumhouse have explored another film based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s source material. But a true sequel to Carpenter’s movie remains the big one, and Carpenter is apparently still working on it.
