Candyman director Bernard Rose recently revealed his original sequel plan for the film, which included Jack the Ripper, and didn’t include Candyman. This summer, producer Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) and director Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) are set to unleash a new vision of Candyman on audiences worldwide. It’s still not entirely clear what role Tony Todd might play, but it’s apparent the new movie won’t retcon the original story, as the trailer includes characters from the 1992 Candyman film.
One wonders if Candyman 2020 will choose to acknowledge the events of Candyman’s prior sequels, 1995’s Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh and 1999’s Candyman: Day of the Dead. Both installments have their fans, and Tony Todd remains great in the title role, but they’re a clear step down from the classic first film. With that in mind, some fans might wonder why writer/director Rose didn’t return to helm any of Candyman’s follow-ups. It turns out there’s a very specific reason, one which boils down to a disagreement with studio executives.
In a case like that, most fans might be inclined to side with the director instead of the suits against his vision, but in this instance, it’s possible fans dodged a bullet. Rose had an idea for a Candyman sequel, but bizarrely, Candyman wasn’t even part of it.
Candyman’s ORIGINAL Sequel Plan Didn’t Include Its Main Villain
Upon Candyman’s successful release in 1992, producer Steve Golin of Propaganda Films quickly approached Bernard Rose with an offer to write and direct a sequel that would release the following year. While that makes sense, Golin clearly didn’t bargain for what Rose would deliver. Rose’s idea for a Candyman sequel didn’t continue the first film’s story, instead focusing on Jack the Ripper of all people, who Rose saw as an older shadowy, mythical boogeyman figure. Putting aside the fact that Jack was a real person, the fact that he was never caught does lend him a boogeyman-ish quality, so it kind of makes sense. The story would’ve seen Jack’s ghost haunting modern day London, and centered on a British policewoman investigating the case.
While that certainly sounds like a movie idea with potential, the fact remains that Rose was contracted to deliver a sequel to Candyman, and aside from a brief mention of Candyman and the return of a minor character, Rose’s idea had nothing to do with the first film. Even weirder, it actually incorporated elements of another Clive Barker story, The Midnight Meat Train, into the plot. Unsurprisingly, when Rose took his script to Golin, the producer balked, and absolutely refused to make a Candyman sequel without Candyman. Rose and Golin parted ways, Bill Condon was brought on to direct, and the result was Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, with Tony Todd in tow.
More: Candyman: The Real Urban Legends That Inspired Tony Todd’s Villain
- Candyman Release Date: 2021-08-27
