If Hollywood has one really reliable rule, it's "success deserves a sequel." It doesn't really matter if a movie needs a sequel, so long as there is a potential audience to demand it. With the hot buzz surrounding The Girl On The Train going into this weekend, it's a reasonable question to wonder if might ever see a Girl On The Train 2... but according to director Tate Taylor, it's not something for which you should hold your breath.
I had the pleasure of talking on the phone with Tate Taylor last week to talk about his latest movie, and after a long discussion about the ins and outs of The Girl On The Train, I took the opportunity to ask if we might ever see a sequel get, or if he would be interested in making one. The filmmaker explained why he didn't really think it would be a great idea, noting that he basically thinks the story of the characters in the novel adaptation have really been told. Said, Taylor,
Probably not. As you can imagine, that's come up numerous times regarding The Help and, you know, I'm sure Paula Hawkins, like Kathryn Stockett, Kathryn Stockett was asked, and she's like, 'I've made peace with those people.' And truth be told, what I think is such a credit to Paula's novel, which I hope translates in the film - there's not much left to know about these people. I mean, there really isn't. We know it all by the end.
Unlike many popular books that get turned into movies these days, The Girl On The Train isn't the first in a longer series that could potentially be adapted in the future - which is evidence that perhaps there really isn't any need to find some material for a second film. That being said, not having a sequel novel has done absolutely nothing to stop chatter about a potential Gone Girl 2, so who knows what could happen in the future.
SPOILER WARNING: The rest of this article contains spoilers The Girl On The Train. If you have not yet seen the film, you may want to think about clicking away to another one of our wonderful articles.
Tate Taylor does make a very good point about there not being a great deal more to say with the select characters in The Girl On The Train - given that each of the main players get pretty satisfying conclusions. Emily Blunt's Rachel, now no longer a subject of gaslighting, has stopped drinking and is starting to live a better life; Justin Theroux's Tom is set to jail, Rebecca Ferguson's Amy is freed of Tom's oppressiveness; and Luke Evans' Scott gets closure about the death of his wife. Yes, there are certainly complex creative ways that these characters could come back together in a story years later... but why not just tell an original story instead?
For those of you who have seen The Girl On The Train, would you like to see a Girl On The Train 2, or is the movie best left as a one-off? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts.
