Legendary director John Carpenter has discussed the idea of ever bringing the proposed Escape from New York sequel, Escape from Earth, to life. While discussing the project with Fandom, Carpenter revealed what he believes the movie would look like if it were made today, and even backs the idea of Kurt Russell’s son, Wyatt, taking on the iconic role of Snake Plissken. But what would Escape from Earth look like if it were finally made today? Well, according to Carpenter...
“Depends on the story. Escape from Earth was kind of Snake Plissken in a space capsule, flying interstellar. So there’d be a lot of special effects in it. Which I never care about too much. But that’s what it would look like.”
While Carpenter says he does not care too much about special effects-laden movies, the idea of Snake Plissken in space sounds like nothing less than cinematic majesty. Co-written, co-scored, and directed by John Carpenter, Escape from New York, the first installment in the franchise, introduces audiences to Kurt Russell as ex-soldier and current federal prisoner Snake Plissken, who is given just 24 hours to rescue the President of the United States, who has crashed landed in Manhattan, which is now a giant maximum-security prison. The sequel, Escape from L.A., finds Snake tasked with stopping the brainwashed daughter of the U.S. President from detonating a stolen explosive device.
Escape from Earth would have picked up with Snake Plissken right after the ending of Escape from L.A., which saw him activating a superweapon known as the “Sword of Damocles." The weapon ends all technological activity on the planet permanently, plunging Earth into a new dark age, and concluding with Snake proving why he is considered one of the greatest silver screen antiheroes of all time as he lights a cigarette and says, "Welcome to the human race."
Sadly, Russell has dismissed the idea of returning to the role of Snake Plissken, believing it to be a young man’s role. And, while there have reportedly been plans to reboot Escape from New York for some time, Carpenter responded eagerly to the idea of any future Escape from... project being led by Kurt Russell’s son, Wyatt Russell, instead.
“Oh there you go. You should make this, you have more ideas than I do.”
Escape from New York Remake Writer Also Wants Wyatt Russell as Snake
The Invisible Man and Upgrade writer and director Leigh Whannell is on board to write the potential Escape from New York remake, and he is also very much on board with the idea of Wyatt Russell slipping on the eye-patch as the new Snake Plissken.
"[Casting Wyatt Russell] seems like the obvious thing to win the fans over,” he said, before adding that they will approach with caution when it comes to the reboot. “It's funny, I've been so busy working on this film where I haven't had time to circle back around on that project. Sometimes these press releases go out before you're ready, you're like, 'Don't tell the world!' I don't actually know, I really don't. That is an iconic character and I think that Snake Plissken is a part of people's childhood and their adolescence. It's near and dear to them. So I would tread very carefully with that.”
Would you like to see Snake Plissken take interstellar flight in Escape from Earth?