Elisabeth Moss Still Pushing for The Invisible Man 2

Elisabeth Moss still wants to make The Invisible Man 2. No big shock there. The update: the movie is still very much a 'we want to do it, but only if it’s right' situation, which is Hollywood-speak that actually seems honest in this case.

Quick rewind: Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man hit theaters about two weeks before COVID shut everything down in March 2020 and still pulled in over $144 million worldwide on a $7 million budget. That kind of return usually gets you a sequel yesterday. Instead, it took four years for Moss to even acknowledge one was in development (she did that on the Happy Sad Confused podcast). A year later, she’s saying the team is still at it, just not rushing.

When Screen Rant asked if she had any real update, Moss kept it simple: 'I wish I did.' The longer answer is basically: yes, they’re working on it, but they refuse to half-bake it for a quick streaming drop.

'We could have easily just churned out a sequel and thrown it up on streaming and called it a day.'

Moss credits Universal and Blumhouse for not doing that. She calls their patience unusual, says they love the first movie, and won’t move on a sequel unless it’s as good or better. That high bar, according to her, is what’s slowed things down. The plan, though, is still: keep developing, find the right script, then go.

There is one wrinkle: Leigh Whannell has previously said he’s not interested in making a sequel. That doesn’t kill the idea, but it does mean if this happens, it might be with someone else behind the camera — or after a change of heart. Inside baseball note: plenty of studios would have cashed in already with a quickie follow-up. The fact that hasn’t happened is... rare.

If you somehow missed it, Whannell’s version was a modern spin on Universal’s classic monster. Moss plays Cecilia Kass, who’s trying to put her life back together after the apparent death of her abusive ex (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) — until she starts to wonder if he’s actually gone at all.

• Box office vs. budget: $144M global on a $7M budget (released March 2020, right before shutdowns)
• Sequel status: Moss confirmed development four years post-release (on Happy Sad Confused); another year later, she still wants to make it but has no concrete update
• Creative stance: They’re holding out for a script that makes the sequel worth doing; no rushing to streaming
• Director watch: Whannell has said he isn’t interested in a sequel, so his involvement is uncertain
• Studios: Universal and Blumhouse — getting credit from Moss for keeping the quality bar high

Personally, I’m fine with the slow-roll approach. If any lean, mean studio thriller from the last few years deserved a carefully considered sequel, it’s this one. What would you want Invisible Man 2 to look like — new story, new angle, or pick up right where Cecilia left off?