In the discussion of best horror movies ever, particularly of the 21st century, David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows is an obvious inclusion. Constructed around a monstrous parable for the consequences of unprotected sex, the film earned critical acclaim and a great deal of love from the genre community, with star Maika Monroe instantly viewed as a promising scream queen. Following a premiere at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the film got a theatrical release in the spring of 2015, and nearly a decade later, the film is now being...followed...by a sequel.
The It Follows sequel is appropriately titled They Follow, and it’s a project that is coming together rather quickly. So what do we know about the project? Who is making it? Who is starring in it? The express purpose of this feature is to answer all of those questions and more – and we’ll start at the very beginning when the film was first announced.
What Is The They Follow Release Date?
Presently, there is no release date set for They Follow.
When It Follows was made, it was an independent production with no distribution in place, and it was only after its aforementioned premiere at the Cannes Film Festival that it got picked up by Radius-TWC. That, however, is not the circumstance with the development of They Follow. Instead, the movie is being both produced and distributed by Neon (which released one of the best horror movies of 2023 with Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool).
While selling distribution rights is an item that’s off the to-do list for They Follow, we unfortunately still don’t know when we’ll actually get to see the film. With principal photography scheduled for 2024, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that it will be ready in time for this year’s spooky season, but it seems more likely that the film will end up getting a 2025 release (if not especially because that will mark a full decade since the theatrical release of the original).
They Follow Was Announced In October 2023
On Halloween Eve in 2023, horror fans were offered a delightful present for the holiday. It was on October 30, 2023 that the It Follows sequel was officially announced, and it was reported at the time that the film would be titled They Follow.
Unfortunately, plot details are being kept close to the vest presently, but the sequel’s name suggests an evolution in the monster from the original – which hunts its prey by taking the form of any person (though only the prey can see it coming). Those whom the entity targets can pass the curse along via sex, but as soon as the new prey dies, the shapeshifting curse returns its focus to the previous person.
Maika Monroe Will Reprise Her Role As Jaime "Jay" Height In They Follow
It’s through the eyes of Jaime “Jay” Height that we learn about the monster in It Follows. The film begins with her as a college student who is dating a guy named Hugh (Jake Weary)… but it turns out that is name isn’t actually Hugh. Instead, his real name is Jeff Redmond, and he ends up seducing Jay for the sole purpose of making her the entity’s new target. Understandably freaked out, she tries everything she can to stop the monster from killing her.
At the end of the film, Jay achieves Final Girl status and is able to seemingly stop the monster thanks to help from her friends Yara (Olivia Luccardi) and Paul (Keir Gilchrist), but there is a suggestion in the final scene of It Follows that the nightmare isn’t totally over.
So, has the entity been stalking and tormenting Jay Height for a decade? We’ll presumably find that out in They Follow, as it has been confirmed that Maika Monroe will be reprising her character from the original in the sequel. Her participation was confirmed when the follow-up feature was first announced in October 2023.
Since It Follows, Maika Monroe has continued gaining cred among genre fans, starring in movies like the sci-fi feature The 5th Wave and the blockbuster sequel Independence Day: Resurgence. In 2022, she earned acclaim for her performance as the lead in director Chloe Okuno’s horror film Watcher, and she is further adding to her scream queen resume with writer/director Oz Perkins’ feature Longlegs co-starring Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, and Blair Underwood.
David Robert Mitchell Is Returning To Write And Direct They Follow
In 2010, David Robert Mitchell earned a great deal of hype for his feature debut as a writer director, premiering the comedy The Myth Of The American Sleepover at the SXSW Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival prior to its limited theatrical release. His work immediately inspired questions about what he would do next, and that turned out to be a genre pivot with It Follows as his sophomore effort.
After the release of Mitchell’s first horror movie, he once again decided to try something new. As his third film, he made Under The Silver Lake starring Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough and Topher Grace – which is a strange neo-noir set in Los Angeles. He has been developing a couple of other projects, including a mystery titled Evergreen Pines and the Fading Summer and an untitled thriller starring Anne Hathaway, but it appears that They Follow is coming together faster than either of those features.
Production On They Follow Is Set To Begin In 2024
While some movies get announced and then get stuck for months or years in development hell, They Follow is not looking to be one of those movies. When the project was first announced, the reports suggested that it is a priority to move though pre-production and that principal photography will happen in 2024.
As exciting as that is, the downside is that “in 2024” is as specific as we can presently get. It’s possible that They Follow will start shooting in spring, but it’s equally as likely with the given information that cameras won’t start rolling until December. Stay tuned for more news.
We will hopefully learn a lot more about They Follow soon, and as more information arrives, we will continue to update this feature. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest news about the project, and check out our Upcoming Horror Movies guide to discover all of the scary films that are set to be released in the coming months.
