'They Follow': Naomi Ackie in final negotiations to join Maika Monroe in the horror sequel

Ahead of the start of production which is expected to start in July of this year, we get the latest news on They Followthe announced sequel to the acclaimed 2014 horror film, It Follows.

The sequel to NEON, which has confirmed the returns of its writer and director David Robert Mitchelland its protagonist Maika Monroeis in the final stages of negotiations to add to Naomi Ackie in a co-starring role, according to Deadline reports.

At the moment no details were revealed about Ackie's role or the plot. What is confirmed is that The story will be set ten years after the events of the original installment.

This wouldn't be Ackie's first experience in horror; In 2023 he starred in the thriller Blink Twicewhich marked the directorial debut of Zoë Kravitz. He has been part of other projects such as the acclaimed A24 drama, Sorry, Babyfor which he won a Spirit Award this year, Bong Joon Ho's Mickey 17, The Thursday Murder Club by Chris Columbus, and the recently released in American theaters, I Love Boosters by Boots Riley. Later this year, we'll see her in ClayfaceDC Studios' first horror offering on the big screen.

In It Follows Mitchell, Monroe played Jay Height, a young college student in Detroit, who, after having sex with her boyfriend for the first time, discovers that she will be stalked by a mysterious, supernatural entity that takes the form of people. The only way to temporarily avoid death is to pass the curse on to another person through sex.

During an interview in 2024, Monroe, a favorite horror film actress for her participation in both It Followsas in other projects of the genre such as The Guest, Watcher, Significant Othery Longlegsexplained some details about the sequel after reading Mitchell's script:

“David is brilliant.. The whole movie was transformed in that moment. Never I would make a sequel if I didn't think I was going to surpass it.. Al At first I thought, “A sequel? Where are we going here? And I read it and it's so fucking good. It's so good. I'm so excited.” I think the place where you'll meet Jay right now might not be what you expected, but it's cool.. It's just that, of course, as everyone says about sequels, it's literally bigger, darker, and more fucked up. Reading it was the craziest thing ever. I am very excited about this role. It's been a long time since I've had this much desire to delve into something. There's a lot to play with and I think it will be incredibly challenging, for sure, but very rewarding. I can't wait to work with David.”

The original film had a global box office of $23 million, against a production budget of $1 million. It Follows It is one of the highest rated horror films of the 2010s.

NEON is co-producing the sequel with Good Fear Content. Mitchell will produce with Jake Weiner and Chris Bender. The producers of It FollowsDavid Kaplan, Erik Rommesmo, Rebecca Green and Laura Smith return as producers.