No, We’re Not Getting a Sequel to ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’

We’re only halfway through 2022, but Everything Everywhere All at Once has already cemented a spot as one of the best, most original films of the year. The Michelle Yeoh multiverse drama has earned legions of fans from across the globe and rave reviews from critics. But will there be a sequel to the EEAAO saga? After all, the film introduces a whole multiverse of Evelyns with their own compelling genres and stories. Surely there are more stories to be told about her journey. Don’t count on it, say directing team the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert). Rumors of a sequel started after the duo were interviewed by Edgar Wright for Sight and Sound.

In the interview they discuss internet culture, with Wright noting that “a lot of parents are currently being radicalized by social media”. Kwan responded, “Actually, if we ever were to do a sequel to this movie, it would be about Evelyn getting radicalized, … And then Joy would have to go out and save her mom.”

But the Daniels quickly denied any hints of a sequel via Twitter, writing “Not true at all. Don’t even remember making this joke. Must have been back in March when the idea of a sequel was especially comically far fetched to us.”

They added, “Sorry if this scared anyone. The headline scared us too.” And while rumors of a sequel have definitely been squashed, EEAAO does function as an apt metaphor for the pitfalls of our internet-addicted experience. In an interview with the LA Times,  Daniel Kwan says the script was inspired by the “contradictions and emotional whiplash” of being extremely online. “The internet had started to create these alternate universes, … We were for the first time realizing how scary the internet was, moving from this techno optimism to this techno terror. I think this movie was us trying to grapple with that chaos.”

In their conversation with Wright, Scheinert noted, “I realized that we never say anything about the Internet, … We don’t really point at anyone’s phone. No one is looking at social media. But the movie is totally a reaction to that. Jobu/Joy is like a character that grew up on the internet who is struggling to be understood by her mum, who did not grow up on the internet. I don’t want to tell you about the chat rooms I went into when I was 10, but it was weird. It’s changed just how over-stimulated and distracted we are.”

It’s a good thing that the Daniels aren’t continuing the EEAAO story. Some multiverse sagas are perfect just the way they are.

(via IndieWire, featured image: A24)

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