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After working at Disney for over twenty-five years, Chris Williams left the iconic animation studio to set out on his own. He met with several different studios but set up shop at Netflix after being won over by their enthusiasm. “When I decided I was going to leave, I went to get the lay of the land and met other studios,” Williams told THR. “And I was impressed that they talked about their five-year plan, or 10-year plan, the ‘why we believe we’re going to be successful’ presentations. Netflix was different. Netflix was like, ‘This is the crazy train. We don’t know where this is going. You want in?’” Williams’ first project was The Sea Beast, which has gone on to become the most-viewed animated movie in Netflix’s history, and you know what that means… sequel, baby!
While speaking with THR, Chris Williams confirmed that he’s currently developing a sequel to The Sea Beast. The first film told the story of a monster hunter (Karl Urban) and a young orphan girl (Zaris-Angel Hator) who joins his group of sea monster hunters on their search for the elusive Red Bluster. “I never thought beyond the first movie,” Williams said. “We were not planning for a series. And that was for the good. I just wanted to make this a fun experience and not compromise (the movie) by trying to set up future anythings. A priority in the first one was making it feel plausible and truthful. And when I thought about the truth about where the Sea Beast ended, it looks like everything is nicely wrapped. You have the father and daughter sitting on the dock, the world has changed and given up monster hunting and, isn’t that terrific? But the more I thought about the truth of it, the more I realized the story wasn’t really over.” Williams continued:
And primarily, I was thinking about this brand new family of Jacob and Masie that have been thrown together. Suddenly Jacob is a parent, a parent to an especially willful kid, right? And so when you see them on the dock, you know that’s not what parenting looks like. It’s far messier, far more complicated and more trying at times than that. So the idea of the challenges of this new family became interesting to me. And I also wondered about whether every single hunter in the world would just give up their source of income and identity, and I thought there’s a lot more story here.
As for whether Red might return, Chris Williams would only say, “Maybe?” In addition to The Sea Beast sequel, Williams is also working on an original fantasy story. “Tonally, it would be between Lord of the Rings and Princess Bride,” Williams explained. “It’s like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings where you have a history that leads up to the point where the story begins, and it’s a huge world with multiple events going on outside the story being told. But at the same time, I want to have fun with some of the conventions that Princess Bride did. It’s not parody and it’s not making fun of it, but it has a perspective that is light and refreshing.” He’s developing both projects at the same time, but hasn’t decided which one he will tackle first. You can check out a review of The Sea Beast from our own Steve Seigh right here.
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