Even though there has been news announced about this project announced before, there is good reason to think it’s really happening this time, and this production is going to get made> That’s right, the long-awaited follow-up to District 9 is actually happening this time, but with a twist. Neill Blomkamp recently provided an update on his long-awaited District 10, confirming it’s no direct sequel to District 9.
What’s that mean? Blomkamp plans to base District 10 around real-world history instead of a straight-up sequel to his acclaimed District 9. As most genre fans already know, the original film was a thinly veiled allegory for South Africa”s infamous apartheid years. Set in an alternate present-day where aliens arrived on Earth in the 1980s and were immediately segregated into slums, District 9 ends with Wikus (Sharlto Copley) and Christopher (Jason Cope) working together so the latter can escape and make contact with his home planet. He promises to return in 3 years and heal Wikus from his extra-terrestrial transformation, leaving the fate of both the protagonist and Earth itself ambiguous. After a long series of delays, Blomkamp has finally confirmed that District 10 was being written by himself, Terri Tatchell (District 9 co-writer), and Sharlto Copley.
Blomkamp also revealed that he didn’t want to make a sequel, and District 10 would instead draw from a specific period of American history. Though the era Blomkamp is referring to remains a mystery at present, his comment gives some idea of what District 10 might look like. Early signs indicate the narrative for District 10 will be set after the original movie, and Copley’s involvement with the script suggests Wikus will return too. However, Blomkamp is also hinting that District 10’s core story will be entirely different. Rather than simply using the sequel to answer lingering threads from District 9, District 10 will seemingly function as a brand new narrative, albeit set within the same world and following the same protagonist.
Here’s hoping he manages to create something as compelling, intelligent, and thought-provoking as the original