Tusk star Justin Long recently revealed that Kevin Smith may be making his cinematic return to the Great White North with a sequel to the walrus-based horror movie.
In an interview with SlashFilm, Long, who played the podcasting protagonist Wallace in 2014's Tusk, shared that "[Smith] texted us all the other day…and he told us that he wanted to do it, and I thought it was a joke. And then I realized he was being serious." Long referred to a group chat between Smith, himself, and fellow Tusk co-stars Haley Joel Osment and Genesis Rodriguez.
Tusk, an aquatically spiritual successor to Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game," sees Long's character Wallace get tangled up in the walrus-based machinations of a deranged recluse. The late Michael Parks portrayed Howard Howe, the retired seaman and film's antagonist. If the franchise were to return for a sequel, Smith has stated he would like to see Long's character step into the Howard Howe role. "There's a version of Tusk 2 that you do where... you cut to the present, and somebody else gets sucked into the spider's web," SlashFilm quoted Smith.
As with Smith's New Jersey-based filmography, Tusk has already had a connected film in the 2016 horror comedy Yoga Hosers. While many of Tusk's cast returned for Yoga Hosers as new characters, Lily-Rose Depp and Harley Quinn Smith reprised their roles as convenience store clerks Colleen Collette and Colleen Mackenzie, who were now the protagonists of their own zany, Canadian adventure.
While a Tusk sequel remains unclear, Smith is returning to his Clerks franchise nearly two decades after 2006's Clerks II. Clerks III is set for a limited theatrical release during a single week in September. Initially, the sequel was intended for a two-night limited release before an increased demand from fans led to Lionsgate and Fathom Events extending the theatrical release by a full week. Clerks III will screen in theaters on Sept. 14, 16, 17 and 18.
Clerks III entered development in 2013 and the film had seen many iterations and stages of development before Smith arrived at the story required to close out his comedy trilogy. The conversations surrounding a possible follow-up to Tusk seem to be in those earliest stages of development, meaning it may be some time before fans can expect to see Long’s podcaster-turned-walrus on screen again.
The cult comedy Mallrats marks another film Smith has had many conversations about following over the years in various iterations, with his most recent discussions occurring in June 2020. However, the nearly two-decade-long process that finally brought Clerks III to fans might just prove that patience rewards Smith's fans ten-fold. If Smith chooses to return to Tusk, whether it takes a year or a decade, it appears that he can count on fans joining in to see what particular brand of chaos he's cooked up for Long’s Wallace.
Tusk is currently available to stream on Showtime, HBO, and HBO Max.
Source: SlashFilm