A ‘Twister’ Sequel Has Been Confirmed—Here Are All The Details We Know So Far
Updated: Jan. 05, 2023
Will Helen Hunt be back to chase more storms in Twisters?
Twister is one of the great action movies of the 1990s. The 1996 film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton was the second-highest-grossing film that year, earning nearly half a billion dollars at the box office (it was surpassed by another iconic action movie, Independence Day) and the film was a pop culture phenomenon. Despite its success, it’s taken over 25 years for Hollywood to make a sequel, but now we’re finally Twister 2, which will be called Twisters.
The original film’s cast included Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Alan Ruck as a group of storm-chasers attempting to track a series of tornadoes in Oklahoma by launching a weather-sensing device called “Dorothy”—a nod to The Wizard of Oz, of course—into the eye of a storm. As the team dangerously tracks and pursues the storms, they find themselves competing with a rival team of storm chasers, led by a villainous Cary Elwes. I probably don’t have to tell you that—spoiler alert!—the enemy storm chaser gets killed when he dares to get too close to it. The Twister sequel was just announced on October 18, here’s everything we know about the film so far.
When is Twisters set to premiere?
Deadline reports that filming for Twisters is likely to begin in the Spring of 2023. That means we likely won’t see the film in theaters or available to stream until at least early 2024.
What will Twisters be about?
The original Twister focused on Helen Hunt’s character, Jo Harding, a meteorologist whose obsession with tornadoes stemmed from a childhood tragedy. Reunited with her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Bill Harding (played by Bill Paxton), Jo, Bill, and their team would drive themselves dangerously close to the eye of giant storms in an effort to launch a sensor device that would provide invaluable data to their tornado research. Michael Crichton, who authored one of the biggest book-to-movie adaptations of all time, Jurassic Park, co-wrote the original screenplay with Anne-Marie Martin, and it was directed by Jan De Bont.
There’s no confirmation that Hunt’s character, Jo, will appear in Twisters, but the screenplay, written by Mark L. Smith, is reportedly about Jo and Bill’s daughter, who grew up chasing storms just like her parents.
Who is in the cast of Twisters?
Many of the details involving the cast and crew of Twisters are still yet to be determined. Helen Hunt has not yet been confirmed to reprise the role of Jo, and there is no confirmation of who might play her daughter in the film. Bill Paxton, who played Bill Harding, passed away in 2017. It remains to be seen whether any of the rest of the original cast will make an appearance in the new film.
Is Stephen Spielberg involved in the Twister sequel?
Stephen Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment production company will be co-producing Twisters. Spielberg and Amblin also co-produced the original film as well, so it makes sense that he’d collaborate on the new version. Deadline reports that it was Spielberg who read the new film’s script and helped get the film greenlit. Though a director has not yet been set for the sequel, Spielberg himself is not a contender to direct it.
Sources:
- Deadline: “Twisters’ Forecast For Spring Start As Universal, Amblin Finalize Director For Sequel”
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Originally Published: October 25, 2022
