A Sequel to 1996’s ‘Twister’ is Spinning Up at Universal, and Helen Hunt Could Return
The studio is excited about Mark L. Smith’s ‘Twisters’ script, which would follow the daughter of Hunt and Bill Paxton’s characters.
(L to R) Helen Hunt as Dr. Joanne "Jo" Harding and Bill Paxton as Dr. William "Bill/The Extreme" Harding in 1996's 'Twister.'
If you’re seeing the sky change around you and hearing the distant rush of a wind vortex, that could be because the long-in-development follow-up to 1996’s ‘Twister’ is once more moving forward at Universal. We’ll let you guess what it’s called. Find out at the end of the story!
According to Deadline, Universal is working with Warner Bros. (though the latter is only providing financing and will get a cut of any profits) to crank up the wind machines again, 26 years since Jan de Bont had Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton leading a team of storm chasers into the path of giant, swirly twisters, all in the name of science.
The original movie, which also featured the likes of Cary Elwes, Jami Gertz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck and Todd Field (yes, the director of new Cate Blanchett drama ‘TAR’) in the story of the Hardings (Hunt and Paxton) who must deal with their collapsing marriage even as they reunite to create an advanced weather warning system.
‘Twister’ was a success, earning $494 million worldwide, and lauded for its state-of-the-art effects. Yet no sequel was developed until much more recently.
Mark L. Smith, who wrote ‘The Revenant’ and George Clooney’s ‘The Midnight Sky’, has crafted a script that reportedly focus on the now-grown daughter of Jo and Bill Harding, who is a chip off the old storm-chasing block.
(L to R) Helen Hunt as Dr. Joanne "Jo" Harding and Bill Paxton as Dr. William "Bill/The Extreme" Harding in 1996's 'Twister.'
Steven Spielberg (who was a producer on the 1996 movie) is said to be thrilled by the new screenplay and eager for the movie to be made. And all involved are hoping that they can tempt Hunt back in some capacity, even if just for a cameo. Paxton, of course, sadly died in 2017.
Despite early work kicking off on this one back in 2020, you can certainly point to ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ being a spur for fresh development on this front. And in fact, that movie’s director Joseph Kosinski was attached to what was then being described as a reboot.
Though Kosinski ended up leaving to focus on the Formula One racing movie he has in development at Apple with Brad Pitt starring, the behind-the-scenes team is still being led by producer Frank Marshall (his wife and fellow powerhouse producer Kathleen Kennedy worked on the original with Spielberg).
Universal and Kennedy are looking for the right director, and names mentioned so far include ‘Free Solo’ duo Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vaserhelyi, ‘Prey’s Dan Trachtenberg and Laika animation boss Travis Knight, who in addition to the stop-motion likes of ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’, found success with live-action ‘Transformers’ prequel ‘Bumblebee’.
Other candidates are apparently in the mix, but the studio is hoping that the right person or team can be locked in quickly enough to start shooting in the spring. And that proposed title we teased at the start? ‘Twisters’. Yup, bet you’re glad you waited to read that. Will it change? That answer is blowin’ in the wind.
Bill Paxton as Dr. William "Bill/The Extreme" Harding in 1996's 'Twister.'
