John Carver will return to kill again in a sequel to Eli Roth's 2023 slasher movie Thanksgiving. The sequel has been in development for a while now, basically since the first movie released.
Debuting to critical acclaim and a decent box office return, Sony Pictures quickly revealed he would be cooking up a follow-up film and even posted the announcement on his Instagram page in November 2023. In his post, he confirmed that the movie would be released in fall 2025, but that date has started to seem impossible as updates on the sequel remain few and far between.
Well, we finally have something new to share about the film from star Nell Verlaque who plays one of the film's few survivors, Jessica, daughter of store owner Thomas Wright (Rick Hoffman).
During the premiere of her new series Overcompensating, Verlaque was asked about the sequel and said she thinks they're going to start filming in 2025 (via Deadline).
“I actually just saw Eli [Roth], and we’re talking about some plot points, so I’m really excited for it.”
Per the outlet, Verlaque thinks production will get underway once she finishes production on her next series, an MGM+ show called American Classic.
A 2025 release date for Thanksgiving 2 sounds unlikely
While Roth might have been hopeful that the sequel would come out in November 2025, the fact that they haven't actually started filming the movie yet and production might still be a few months off suggests it will be delayed until 2026 or later.
However, it does seem like production is finally progressing. 1428 Elm previously reported that Roth had given an interview where he provided some additional details on Thanksgiving 2, clarifying that it would be a sequel, not a prequel. He also intends to seriously up "the ante" for this one, while maintaining its smaller budget.
Apart from Verlaque, we also know that singer and TikTok star Addison Rae will probably return to reprise her role of Gaby. She and Jessica were among the only characters to survive John Carver's wrath in the original film, which was based on Roth's fake trailer made for Grindhouse.
Roth is staying busy with his filmmaking plans, as his next project is a terrifying film called Ice Cream Man. The director claims it will be one of his most frightening films to date and has had trouble getting studios to take a look at it due to its disturbing content. Instead, Roth will finance the film through his indie studio The Horror Section alongside Media Capital Technologies.