Arkansas filmmaker Jeff Nichols will taking the reins of the third film in the A Quiet Place franchise.
According to Hollywood trade website Deadline, Nichols has been tapped by Paramount Pictures to write and direct the third film, which is based on an idea by John Krasinski, in this growing franchise. Only A Quiet Place has been released to date, but A Quiet Place Part II has been set for an April 23, 2021 release.
Deadline writer Mike Fleming Jr. speculated that the Nichols-directed film will not be a direct sequel to the first two films but a spinoff that expands the film’s world, noting that “there’s plenty of room creatively to stretch this out” in a spin-off. “They are keeping the details of the plot under wraps, but I would not be surprised if this was not a straight sequel, but rather broadened the world that the original introduced, plopping viewers in a post-apocalyptic world where survivors are struggling to stay alive by being quiet, as monsters with ultra sensitive hearing hunt them,” Fleming wrote.
The third film is tentatively set for a 2022 release date.
Originally, the A Quiet Place sequel had been set for release on Sept. 6, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Paramount delayed its release, along with other potential blockbusters, such as Top Gun: Maverick.
Krasinski directed both the first and second films and has writing credits on both films. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods wrote the original screenplay for the first film.
Nichols, a Little Rock native, has directed five feature films, including Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, Mud, Midnight Special and Loving. In April 2020, multiple trade publications announced that he would be writing and directing an adaptation of David Grann’s New Yorker article about an American participating in the Cuban Revolution. The project, entitled Yankee Comandante, is expected to reunite Nichols with his Midnight Special collaborator Adam Driver. It is unclear if the project is moving forward or how it will impact the A Quiet Place spinoff.
Nichols is also the chairman of the Arkansas Cinema Society.
READ MORE: Like a Backlot – Film Industry on the Upswing in Northwest Arkansas
Image courtesy of Arkansas Cinema Society
