At long last, we’re finally getting a sequel to Donnie Darko… sort of. Filmmaker Richard Kelly has spent the last decade writing The Philosophy of Time Travel, an 800-page book that serves as a direct sequel to the 2001 cult classic. But if all goes as planned, the book will be only the first step in a plan for more Donnie Darko sequels.
Donnie Darko Sequel(s)?
The Philosophy of Time Travel takes place in 1988, immediately after the events of the film. Full plot details are being kept under wraps at this time, but it has been written in a found-documents style with from Donnie’s mother, Rose (Mary McDonnell), and father, Eddie (Holmes Osborne), with the parents “vigorously documenting what is happening to them and why their son has died and their paranoia and their separate detective missions about how to figure out what happened and why it happened.“
Kelly’s plan is to adapt the novel into an animated/motion-capture movie, and then continue with a live-action sequel that jumps forward 28 years into the future.
“I’ve kept in touch with all the cast over the years,” Kelly told Variety. “I’m fairly certain they’re aware that I’ve been working on all this stuff, everything, and the sequel is so big that this book starts off in the 14 months after Donnie’s death, and then there is much more narrative material that I’ve been developing where the time jumps 28 years into the future, and there’s a lot of really exciting stuff that happens starting around 2015/2016 and onward after that, so that’s where I started with the sequel.“
He continued, “This section of the sequel would be animation and then, in theory, should it happen, there would be a gigantic time jump of 28 years or so, and where the actors, should they want to play their roles live and in the flesh, that would be wonderful, too. So we’ll see what happens.“
Would the Original Cast Return?
It remains to be seen if any of these projects will actually happen, but if and when they do, Kelly wants the original cast to return. That said, he hasn’t actually approached them about coming back. He’s hoping the novel will serve as his pitch.
I never want to put pressure on anyone or make anyone feel like they have to give me an answer. That’s ultimately going to be a decision that the whole cast, with each individual deciding what they want to do, and they’re going to have this big gigantic book to read to see what happens to their character, all the new definition added to their character. I have every actor’s voice in my head. They’re so crystal clear and I know what they sounded like 25 years ago, I know what they sound like now.
“I love my cast,” he added. “I would love to reunite with all these wonderful actors, and now it’s just sort of up for the marketplace to decide, and that marketplace includes a global fan base and our wonderful cast of actors, a whole bunch of new characters who are new to the story, who can be played by new actors, and we have all this wonderful technology that didn’t exist five years ago.“
When Will The Philosophy of Time Travel Be Released?
The novel doesn’t have a specific release date yet, but it is expected to debut in Q4, which lines up with the 25th anniversary of Donnie Darko.
Are you interested in the Donnie Darko sequel novel and the potential animated and live-action projects Kelly wants to make?
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