For years, it’s been rumored that J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions was planning to make a sequel to Matt Reeves’ 2008 found-footage monster movie Cloverfield, and now it looks like the studio has done just that — and fittingly (given the mystery preceding Cloverfield) it was all done in secret.
Paramount Pictures released the first trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane this week in front of screenings of Michael Bay’s 13 Hours (much like the way the first previews of Cloverfield preceded Bay’s Transformers), and once again the trailer only adds to the mystery surrounding the project.
Set to star Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, and John Gallagher Jr., 10 Cloverfield Lane was originally produced under the working title The Cellar, then Valencia, before revealing its now-official title in the new trailer. The implication of a connection to Reeves’ 2008 film isn’t an accident, either.
“The idea came up a long time ago during production,” said Abrams in an official statement regarding the trailer released by Paramount. “We wanted to make it a blood relative of Cloverfield. The idea was developed over time. We wanted to hold back the title for as long as possible.”
Back in 2014, when the project was still titled The Cellar, reports suggested it would follow a girl who wakes up in a fortified bunker after getting into a car accident. The cellar’s caretaker (apparently played by John Goodman) is a man who tells her that outside world has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb.
Given the implication that 10 Cloverfield Lane is somehow connected to Cloverfield, it seems reasonable to suspect that the nuclear attack could very well be a result of the Cloverfield monster’s arrival on Earth, or that the “nuclear bomb” they’re taking refuge from might actually be the monster itself. Of course, Goodman’s character could just be plain ol’ crazy, too.
10 Cloverfield Lane is directed by Dan Trachtenburg, the filmmaker responsible for the impressive, live-action 2011 short film Portal: No Escape, based on the hit video game franchise. If you haven’t seen that film yet, you can watch it below:
10 Cloverfield Lane hits theaters March 11.
