Ernie Cline Working on READY PLAYER ONE Sequel With a Steven Spielberg Assist

Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One, which Steven Spielberg is bringing to the screen early next year, is penning a sequel to his pop culture potpourri story. And he’s getting an assist from Spielberg himself.

The teaser for Ready Player One raised a few eyebrows, but this past weekend a full-length trailer re-instilled at least a sliver of hope. The book itself is divisive; it’s on the nose, it throws literally every nostalgic 80s pop-culture reference imaginable at the reader, and it has a few issues with its female characters and our hero, Wade (Tye Sheridan in the film adaptation), basically turning into a stalker. Other than that, it’s great.

Cline shoe to a panel at a trailer launch event (groan) and confirmed the two were working on a follow up:

“[News of the sequel] is true… I can’t talk about it too much, but I can tell you there’s no better inspiration for a writer returning to a world they’ve already worked on when they’re seeing Steven Spielberg bringing that world to life… It would have been a different story if I had not grown up watching Steven’s movies. So to get to not only collaborate with him to bring the first story to life but to bounce ideas off of him for the sequel is the most gratifying thing that’s ever happened to me in my life.”


MFR ON YOUTUBE (latest video)

I’m sure it’s cool to collaborate with Spielberg on the sequel, but I also wonder if Cline has any references left to throw at the page for a sequel. Maybe it will focus more on the 90s?

Ready Player One opens March 30.

 

Larry Taylor - Managing Editor
Larry Taylor - Managing Editor
Larry is the managing editor for Monkeys Fighting Robots. The Dalai Lama once told him when he dies he will receive total consciousness. So he's got that going for him... Which is nice.