Twister, the classic disaster film starring Helen Hunt and the late Bill Paxton, is finally getting a follow-up, Twisters, but it’s taken nearly 30 years to get to it. Directed by Jan de Bont from a screenplay by Anne-Marie Martin and Michael Crichton, Twister follows a group of storm chasers attempting to place a device inside a tornado in a bid to expand their understanding and research about them.
First released in 1996, Twister was a one-of-a-kind movie-going experience. On a budget between $88-92 million, the film grossed nearly $500 million at the global box office. Twisters, a sequel to the original film starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos, was officially announced in 2022 and the film finally has a July 2024 theatrical release date. Plot details are currently under wraps, but Twisters is expected to follow the daughter of Jo and Bill from the original film as she continues in her parents’ footsteps. With 25 years between Twister’s release and the announcement of Twisters 2, what took so long to make the sequel happen?
A Twister Sequel Didn’t Go Into Development Until 2020
Development didn’t begin on Twisters until 2020. Unlike other films, there weren’t any false starts with a Twister sequel that explained why it was so prolonged. Initially, John Krasinski was attached to direct the sequel, which was then being considered a remake. Helen Hunt also pitched a sequel story and was interested in directing Twisters in 2021, but Universal Pictures passed on the offer.
The studio ended up going in a different direction, announcing the sequel in December 2022 with a screenplay being written by Mark L. Smith. There were also several more directors in line to direct before Lee Isaac Chung came on board. Once Twisters began development things moved rather swiftly; luckily, the project wasn’t stalled for several years before moving forward. By the fall 2022, the Twister sequel had a name and a few months later, its cast — including Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actress Kiernan Shipka.
Why Helen Hunt’s Original Twister Sequel Plans Were Scrapped
After initially pitching a sequel story, the studio ultimately turned it down because Hunt’s character, Dr. Jo Harding, would have been killed off early on in the film before moving the rest of the story forward. What’s more, Hunt admitted that it was hard to get a meeting with studio executives to discuss her sequel idea, which featured “all Black and brown storm chasers,” with the actress also directing the film.
This was months ahead of the announcement that a Twister sequel was being developed. Hunt’s version of the Twister sequel would have also been co-written by Hamilton star Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal. Hunt would have wanted her character to return as a more tired, haggard version, which makes sense given how many decades had passed, before dying. As for Twisters, which has begun filming in Oklahoma, Hunt has not yet been confirmed to return, and it’s unclear if she will reprise her iconic role for a good chunk of the film, or if she might simply appear in a cameo.
