Since the release of the Italy-set romance a few years back, there’s been more ink spilled over the potential of a Call Me By Your Name sequel than when it comes to all the writing surrounding Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria, so we already apologize for adding to the problem. However, a substantial update has now occurred as author André Aciman has announced he’s written a follow-up novel and it’ll be arriving much sooner than expected. Titled Find Me, it’ll be released on October 29, 2019 via publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux. See a synopsis below, which reveals where Elio, Oliver, and Samuel find themselves;
In Find Me, Aciman shows us Elio’s father Samuel, now divorced, on a trip from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, who has become a gifted classical pianist. A chance encounter on the train leads to a relationship that changes Sami’s life definitively. Elio soon moves to Paris where he too has a consequential affair, while Oliver, now a professor in northern New England with sons who are nearly grown, suddenly finds himself contemplating a return visit to Europe.
“The world of Call Me by Your Name never left me,” Aciman tells Vulture. “Though I created the characters and was the author of their lives, what I never expected was that they’d end up teaching me things about intimacy and about love that I didn’t quite think I knew until I’d put them down on paper. The film made me realize that I wanted to be back with them and watch them over the years — which is why I wrote Find Me.”
As for if this sequel will be adapted in film form, this update comes after writer James Ivory told us last fall, “I wouldn’t want to be involved [in a sequel]. I can’t imagine having to make Timothée Chalamet look 45. I mean, that would be horrendous and so fake looking if that’s what they are going to do! But any case, André Aciman just laughed at the idea to me. He said it was not a good idea. They can’t do a sequel, I think, without him being on board. It’s his characters and his story.”
Clearly, Aciman has changed his mind in terms of finding a story. Armie Hammer also said this week they would be “setting ourselves up for disappointment” if they tried to do a follow-up, but before we get ahead of ourselves when it comes to constantly questioning the potential film adaptation, we can simply luxuriate in Aciman’s continuation this fall.