The casting call for director Matthijs Van Heijningen’s soon-to-get-going Thing prequel is so detailed that it even tells you who gets replaced by the alien shapeshifter. We won’t share that with you (although the link is here if you want it) but we will tell you that the testosterone-heavy dynamic of the original will be thoroughly shaken up this time around: one of the three leads is gasp a woman!
What the call sheet also reveals is that, contrary to rumour, Eric Heisserer’s script doesn’t feature a role for the brother of RJ MacReady (played by Kurt Russell in John Carpenter’s film). That idea from Ronald D. Moore’s original draft has been jettisoned in favour of an all-new cast of characters at the ill-fated Norwegian base.
The main characters are Kate Lloyd, Sander Halvorson and Sam Carter, respectively a PhD student, an NYU microbiologist and a helicopter pilot. Support comes from Edvard Volner, the Norwegian geoscientist who discovers the crashed alien ship in the Antarctican crevasse, and his research team: Adam, Jonas, Juliette (another woman!) and Colin. Sam’s co-pilot Derek is also around. And remember, Dereks don’t run.
Given how Carpenter’s Thing begins, we might logically assume that we know how events will pan out for all the above, but hopefully there are still some surprises – and decent scares – in store. Shooting is scheduled for March, so cast details should start emerging before too long.