It was previously reported that District 10 was to begin filming this fall, but Sharlto Copley, who starred as Wikus in District 9, has revealed to Empire that another District film won’t be in the works for at least another two years. Although the news will come as a disappointment to fans, Copley did share some interesting speculations about any possible District 9 sequels or prequels:
“Neil wants it and I want it. Neil’s doing another film first. Then I think if everything goes according to plan we’ll do the second film in about two years time. That story can go in so many different ways. There’s a whole universe. I’m sure a lot of writers say that, but we actually have an entire universe.
“This thing started shooting in 2005, and before we shot the film we shot Alive In Joburg and two other shorts as part of Neil’s creative development process. Those next two films actually had my character, Wikus, in them, although I wasn’t called Wikus in them. So they were two parts of the development of the world and where the story was going to go and all that.
“There’s a million ways you can go. Neil’s actually very interested in prequels as well; he’s said that a few times. We wouldn’t do the traditional Hollywood version of the sequel which would just be 100 aliens fighting humans.” (Empire)
While director Neill Blomkamp won’t be filming ‘District 10‘ this fall, Copley’s comments suggest that Blomkamp is very interested in making a prequel, certainly more so than a sequel. It wouldn’t be surprising if a prequel or two came before a sequel and quite frankly that could be better than having a District 10. Blomkamp shot Alive in Joburg to develop his ideas for District 9, clearly wanting to understand the world he created before he began to play with the characters in it. There could be many interesting things that Blomkamp left out of District 9 simply because it diverted from the central plot. A great backstory would be a worthy prequel to see should Blomkamp decide to go ahead with it.
What do you think of a District 9 prequel?