Actor Justin Long has revealed that director Kevin Smith is gathering the troops for the sequel to his bizarre 2014 body-horror flick, Tusk. Speaking with SlashFilm, Long says that Smith is gearing up to take us back to the walrus-obsessed world of Tusk, with the filmmaker putting together the pieces for a follow-up.

"You'll be happy to hear, Kevin [Smith] just announ– I mean, I guess they're talking about it. They're doing 'Tusk 2,' I think...He texted us all the other day, Haley [Joel Osment] and Genesis [Rodriguez], 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. And then one of the [other] interviewers said, 'Yeah, he said the same to me.'"

Tusk follows Justin Long as podcaster Wallace Bryton, whose life changes drastically when he travels to Canada for an interview with an infamous celebrity, who unbeknownst to him, has a strange affinity with walruses. So obsessed with walruses, in fact, that he plans to transform Wallace into one.

Tusk ends tragically, with Wallace encased in a walrus costume and living in a wildlife sanctuary – though the movie does leave us with the suggestion that his humanity has not been completely eroded by his experience. Still, considering the critical response to Tusk, many will be asking why Kevin Smith wants to return for a sequel.

Kevin Smith Has Already Revealed His Plans for Tusk 2

tusk-film
A24

Tusk remains a peculiar oddity among director Kevin Smith’s filmography, but the filmmaker has been thinking of delving back into the weird world once again for a while now. Back in August 2020, Smith revealed that he already had Tusk 2 on his mind.

“I'm shocked we got away with [Tusk] but I'll be honest with you: I do have a story for Tusk 2,” Smith said. “The great Michael Parks, who played Howard Howe, the man who turns Wallace into a Walrus, sadly passed away a couple of years ago... But, in the ending of Tusk, if I wanted to be a commercial filmmaker, which apparently I've never wanted to be, I would have ended the film when De La Pointe comes in and raises his shotgun and you'd just hear the walrus [scream] and that would be the end."

Smith even went on to reveal what he has planned for the horror sequel, stating that it could involve Justin Long’s character becoming the villain this time around.

"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,” the filmmaker began. “The house, you hear stories, and when you come to the house, the new Howard Howe is Wallace, who has gotten out of the walrus trappings and stuff and is obviously disturbed. By his whole ordeal and is now doing it to others. So there's a way to do Tusk 2 where Justin becomes Michael Parks's character....So yea, that's possible. Tusk 2 is possible."

Before bringing back the walrus, Kevin Smith will first return to another of his prior works with Clerks III. Written, produced, directed, and edited by Kevin Smith, Clerks III will reflect some of Smith’s real life when Randal Graves, after surviving a heart attack, wants to make a movie with Dante Hicks about their lives at the Quick Stop. Clerks III is set to be released on September 13 by Lionsgate.