In a world full of sequels, prequels, squeakquels and NyQuil, it often takes a really special follow-up project to gain the favor of the masses, and author Chuck Palahniuk has a hell of a challenge on his hands in bringing Fight Club 2 to the original novel and film’s giant fanbase. This sequel will be a graphic novel, so that makes television one of the only major mediums where Palahniuk’s work has yet to be seen. But that’s precisely where a live-action version of Fight Club 2 may end up. I am Jack’s foil-covered rabbit ears.
Palahniuk gave a fascinating interview with Maxim recently about all things Fight Club 2, from its conception to its perceived slight on the novel. And when asked if there was a chance for a film to be made from the sequel, Palahniuk’s answer was rather stunning.
Everybody has already inquired about it. Television networks have already come to Dark Horse asking for the rights for a TV series. But I think everyone is kind of holding their breath to see how the comic does before they take any action.
It wouldn’t be a dumb move to assume that the “everybody” in his response includes movie studios, but he specifically brings up TV networks wanting in on it. And that gets me a lot more excited than just another movie. Okay, Fight Club 2 could never be just another movie, but you know what I mean.
A Fight Club TV show would not have been that exciting of an idea back in the late 1990s when David Fincher and Jim Uhls were putting the film together, but 2015 is an entirely different landscape for small screen entertainment. FX! Starz! HBO! Netflix! There are more places now than ever for Palahniuk’s dark stories to be told with precision.
It’s of course always presumptuous to talk about future homes for projects that haven’t even been released yet to current homes. (Especially knowing that one Palahniuk book after another has seen proposed adaptations go up in smoke.) But it would be insane to think that Fight Club 2 will forever remain on the comic page, given the success and cult-to-mainstream following that it’s gained over the years. There are risks that the actors wouldn’t match up to Ed Norton and Brad Pitt’s performances in the movie, much less Helena Bonham Carter’s Marla, but that’s to be expected.
There would something bizarrely cathartic about seeing Tyler Durden on TV, knowing how he feels about such things.
We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
Here’s hoping no one is pissed off when the first issue of Dark Horse’s Fight Club 2 is released on May 27.
