Don’t Breathe Director to Tackle Labyrinth Continuation without the Goblin King

Fede Alvarez, the director of last year’s horror hit Don’t Breathe, is taking the helm of Tri-Star’s Labyrinth continuation. We don’t know much about it yet but we now know the Goblin King will not play a role.

The Hollywood Reporter has the latest on this project we’ve been hearing about for quite some time now. The last I reported on it was back in January of 2016 it was said Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel screenwriter Nicole Perlman was hired to work on it. At the time many were assuming it would be a remake/reboot but Perlman put that notion to rest. The news was also unfortunately reported just after the passing of David Bowie, who played Jareth the Goblin King in the film opposite Jennifer Connelly. Perlman said at the time, “Henson Co & I started talking in late 2014, so the timing of these rumors is so upsetting. I would never seek to profit from Bowie’s death.”

Today the working is more specific, Alvarez’s project will be a sequel. THR notes, “Insiders stress that the new project is not a remake nor a reboot but rather a continuation of the story set in the rich Henson universe. The goblin king will not be represented in the film.”

No other info on story direction was given at this time. “Alvarez will write the script with Jay Basu and direct the project, which is set up at Tri-Star. Lisa Henson of The Jim Henson Company will produce,” writes THR. “Alvarez and Basu are developing Girl in the Spider’s Web, the sequel to Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and will tackle the Labyrinth project after that.”

Seeing the news this afternoon, Perlman got ahead of the game to comment on her involvement. On twitter she wrote: “Just FYI: I never wrote a script for Labyrinth – just outlined some story ideas 2014-early 2016. I’m not involved in any way on the sequel.”

I was really hoping this project would go to a female director so I’m a bit disappointed in the news, including the fact that Perlman is no longer involved. I haven’t seen any of Alvarez’s work but he’s definitely horror inclined. I wonder if this sequel will be darker than the original?

2 Responses to “Don’t Breathe Director to Tackle Labyrinth Continuation without the Goblin King”

  1. VindicaSean says:

    Alvarez has yet to make even a good movie, to my tastes, so yeah, skepticism abound for me.

  2. marysueme says:

    I’m skeptical. Really skeptical that any good can come of this.