20 Things You Didn't Know About The Thing
5. A Four-Hour Mini-Series Was Originally Planned For 2003
Though a 2011 prequel film was eventually produced, back in 2005 plans were set in motion for a four-hour sequel mini-series, Return of the Thing, to be aired on the SyFy Channel.
The mini-series was to be produced by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) and written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (Orphan, The Conjuring 2), picking up 23 years later with a Russian team discovering MacReady and Childs' bodies, while also unearthing The Thing once again, causing it to get loose in New Mexico.
While many fans would prefer the fates of the protagonists to remain ambiguous, the change of setting certainly sounded a good deal more interesting than the prequel, though Universal ultimately passed on the mini-series in favour of said prequel.