We Are What We Are will get a prequel AND a sequel!

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Even though most of the world hasn’t even seen it yet, Memento Films International has launched sales on a prequel and a sequel to Jim Mickle’s WE ARE WHAT WE ARE ahead of the picture’s international premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes next week.

According to Screen Daily, Finnish filmmaker AJ Annila (SAUNA) has signed to direct the prequel, titled WHAT WE WERE. It will be his first English-language film; Nick Damici (Mickle’s writing partner on WE ARE and STAKE LAND) is penning the screenplay. The prequel will follow the love story between the mother and father of a cannibal clan, Frank and Emma Parker, and detail how Frank first introduced his sweetheart to cannibalism.

Even more intriguing: director Jorge Michel Grau, who made the original film WE ARE WHAT WE ARE is based on, “Somo Lo Que Hay,” has agreed to do the sequel. A 2014 shoot is planned; no details are available on that at the moment.

In WE ARE WHAT WE ARE:

A seemingly wholesome and benevolent family, the Parkers have always kept to themselves, and for good reason. Behind closed doors, patriarch Frank rules the roost with a rigorous fervor, determined to keep his ancestral customs intact at any cost. As a torrential rainstorm moves into the area, tragedy strikes and his daughters Iris and Rose are forced to assume responsibilities that extend beyond those of a typical family. The most important task the girls face is putting meat on the table— but not the kind that can be found at the local supermarket. As the unrelenting downpour continues to flood their small town, local authorities begin to uncover clues that bring them closer to the secret that the Parkers have held closely for so many years.

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE does not have a U.S. release date yet.

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE cannibal Julia Garner