Nosferatu director Robert Eggers will direct a sequel to the 1980s cult classic Labyrinth.
The filmmaker, whose recent horror remake was nominated for four Oscars and marks his biggest box office success to date, is also known for his work on The Northman, The Witch and The Lighthouse.
Labyrinth, directed by Jim Henson, was first released in 1986 and starred Jennifer Connelly as the 16-year-old Sarah who finds herself in the maze searching for her baby brother. David Bowie played Jareth, the Goblin King, who taunts Sarah as she makes her way through. The film flopped when it was first released, eventually earning a loyal fandom over time.
Eggers is said to have closed a deal to write and direct the sequel for TriStar Pictures, according to Deadline. The news comes shortly after the filmmaker announced his next project as Werwulf, a thriller set in the 13th century.
Although plot details for the movie have been kept under wraps, it has been reported that the film will be a sequel to the original film, rather than a remake. Eggers will work with Icelandic screenwriter and poet Sjón on a script for the film, the pair previously collaborated on The Northman in 2022.
Harry Potter director Chris Columbus and his daughter Eleanor will produce the movie alongside Lisa Henson, daughter of Labyrinth’s original director, and CEO of the Jim Henson Company. Her brother Brian Henson, who worked on the original film giving a voice to one of the goblins in the film, will executive produce.
Eggers had evaded questions about reports of a new Labyrinth earlier this week, telling ComicBook: “The thing is, I always have a ton of things in development because you need to to survive this industry and you don’t know what is going to hit next. But I definitely want the next film I make to be an original movie.”
Connelly has expressed an interest in returning for future iterations of the film, according to The Guardian.
Rumours of a reboot were shot down by the first screenwriter linked to the project, Nicole Perlman, who told X/Twitter: “Guys, please don’t fall for all the clickbait. No one is remaking Labyrinth. That movie is perfect as it is.”
In a five-star review of Nosferatu, The Independent’s film critic Clarisse Loughrey praised the director’s fidelity to the original film while adapting for modern audiences: “The director’s work is a necessary rebuke to a culture that’s become a little too fond of the modernised adaptation – valid, at times, but never free from the disparaging notion that [F W] Murnau’s images or [Bram] Stoker’s words have lost their power. It’s nice to imagine that Nosferatu would play as well for an audience in the 1830s as it would now. ”
