After years of speculation, it appears that the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth is, at last, going to get a sequel. Doctor Strange's Scott Derrickson is slated to direct. Although casting, filming schedule, and plot details have yet to be announced, original cast member Jennifer Connelly confirmed last year that she had been in talks with the makers to reprise her role as Sarah.
Labyrinth had a strangely eclectic gestation. The Muppets creator Jim Henson collaborated with designer Brian Froud -- whose work was most recently seen on Netflix's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance -- on the film's central concept. The screenplay was written by Monty Python's Flying Circus alum Terry Jones, with contributions from several others, including the film's executive producer, George Lucas. An experienced director and writer, Jones had already established his fantasy genre bona fides with a series of well-received children's books, but Labyrinth represented his first Hollywood screenplay. The plot revolves around the trials and tribulations of Sarah, a teenager whose baby brother is taken into a dreamlike otherworld by Jareth, the Goblin King, played with relish by David Bowie. Jareth gives Sarah thirteen hours to traverse the Labyrinth and rescue her brother before he is turned into a goblin.
In spite of a lavish promotion and merchandising campaign, Labyrinth underperformed at the box office. While it did not exactly kill off Bowie's acting career (excellent turns in the much-underrated Basquiat and opposite Christian Bale and Michael Caine in Christopher Nolan thriller The Prestige were to follow), it represented the high-water mark of his Hollywood work; never again would he enjoy as high a profile as an actor.
Despite its faults, Labyrinth spent most of the late 1980s and 1990s as a staple of network television schedules and remains a favorite of fantasy fans. The prospect of a sequel is irresistible. Here's why.
CGI Will Make the Visuals Even More Otherworldly
EMI-Columbia
The pioneering models and painstaking puppet work of the original, such as Sarah's scaredy-cat sidekick Hoggle (played by Jim Henson's son Brian Henson), formed an important part of Labyrinth's appeal. Of course, CGI can accomplish much of the same effect and more with relatively limited resources. With The Jim Henson Company's Lisa Henson as executive producer, it may be that traditional puppetry will be featured. But the company also specializes in digital puppetry, and this approach, combined with CGI and greenscreen techniques, should achieve a level of verisimilitude that 1980s filmmakers could only dream of.
The Bog of Eternal Stench and the M. C. Escher-esque visuals looked impressive enough on release. Still, the possibilities afforded by today's technology are bounded only by the imagination of the makers.
Jareth Is Still Out There
As fans of the original will know, Jareth the Goblin King was outsmarted but not vanquished by Sarah. Although Bowie's death from cancer in 2016 robbed fans of a potential reprise of his famously arch performance, the character is too irresistible to be discarded.
Given the extent to which Bowie, the movie actor, is identified with the role, it may come as a surprise to find that several musicians-turned-actors were under consideration at the time, including Michael Jackson and Sting. Last year, fans in some circles were calling for a gender-flipped version of the character to appear in the upcoming production, with Tilda Swinton being mentioned as a possibility.
A Comics Tie-In?
Although it has been over three decades since Labyrinth's first and only appearance on screen, the movie gave rise to a vigorous fanbase. Last year's 35th anniversary of the film's premiere was greeted by limited run showings in theaters and an outpouring of reminiscences on social media by makers and fans alike.
Furthermore, not only are there countless thousands of pieces of fan-fiction out there but there are also several comic book series, including Tokyopop's Return to Labyrinth from 2006 onwards. Some of these stories focus not on Sarah but on her brother Toby, who is portrayed as having reached adolescence.
It's certainly an original approach for a story that is based on the interplay -- some would say unrequited romance -- between Sarah and Jareth. But the beauty of Labyrinth is that, unlike so many media properties, its universe is still relatively undeveloped. Where reincarnations of other films might feel beholden to an expanded universe already in existence, the Labyrinth comics are relatively few in number, leaving ample scope for the makers to tie in with their plotlines or to venture off into new storytelling territory as they see fit. It will be interesting to see in what bold new directions Scott Derrickson wishes to take a story that has bags of potential.