Get ready for more adventures from Neil McCauley and Lieutenant Vincent Hanna as a follow-up to Michael Mann’s hit 1995 crime drama Heat is officially in the works. However, instead of a film, it will be in the form of a novel. Plans for the book date back to 2016 when Mann announced plans for a prequel as a part of his newly formed imprint Michael Mann Books. Due in part to Mann’s direction and the performances of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, Heat is regarded as one of the best films in the crime drama genre. It has continued to inspire similar works for more than 25 years since its original release.
With that in mind, fans of the original may be curious about how well the story will translate from film to novel. How will it continue the paths of McCauley, Hanna, and the film’s other iconic characters? When can fans expect to see the sequel hit shelves? What should they remember from the original movie? And what else should audiences expect to see in the upcoming sequel novel to Michael Mann’s Heat?
Heat: What We Remember
In the original film, De Niro’s Neil McCauley led a group of thieves pursued by Pacino’s Lieutenant Vincent Hanna in a vicious game of cat and mouse. The film depicted the intersecting paths of the two men and the effect that the events had on both their professional and personal lives of each. Heat 2, the upcoming novel sequel, will be unique in that it is set to be both a sequel and a prequel to the original film. In an interview with EW, Mann outlined what led to the development of the novel, saying:
“When I was writing the film, it was imperative for me to create complete life stories about all the characters and to know everything about them. It's been my intention for a long time to do the further stories of Heat. There was always a rich history or back-story about the events in these people's lives before 1995 in Heat and projection of where their lives would take them after."
The Novel: What We Expect
Per a Deadline exclusive, Mann gave fans an idea of how the novel will explore the characters' lives both before and after the film. The novel will reportedly open with Chris Shiherlis (originally played by Val Kilmer) needing to make an escape from L.A. The prequel portion begins in 1989, six years before the events of the film, and depicts the lives of the characters in those preceding six years. There will be new characters and new settings, such as Mexico, South America, and Southeast Asia, with an emphasis on the inner workings of international crime syndicates. The action sequences have been described as “highly cinematic,” with Mann likely attempting to replicate what made the original film so successful.
The prequel will also explore the life of Vincent Hanna in-depth. It will show how he honed his skills and how conflicts within his Vietnam service and time with the Chicago Police Department led him to his passion for pursuing criminals, which would ultimately lead to the downfall of his marriage, as seen in the film. Readers will get to find out more about the pre-heist lives of Neil McCauley and Chris Shiherlis, along with their associates Charlene (originally played by Ashley Judd), Kelso (Tom Noonan), Nate (Jon Voight), and Trejo (Danny Trejo).
As for what we can expect to see in the years after the film, Mann was less clear. Per the novel’s official trailer, we know that the sequel portion will be set in 2002, seven years after the film’s events. The setup is likely to be similar, depicting where the significant characters were taken after the film and how the film's events shaped their subsequent journeys.
The exclusive with Deadline also revealed how intensely Michael Mann researched the script for the film. All of the actors received firearms training from the LA County Sheriff’s Department, with British Special Air Service sergeants assisting Mann in setting up the iconic firefight between Hanna and McCauley. Mann took a similarly intensive approach to the novel’s research, saying in part, My way of working with a project involves immersing into the culture of the subject and accumulating a lot of detailed first-hand impressions and information. I want to know and feel that culture and the lives of the people in it.”
The Release: What We Know
Working with fellow writer Meg Gardiner, Mann is set to release Heat 2 sometime in August 2022. With the Hanna-McCauley firefight often regarded as one of the best in cinema, it remains to be seen if the novel can bring that same mastery without the visual element. However, Mann is already promising “cinematic action sequences” as he brings that same intensive subject research from the film. It is clear that Mann and the team behind the novel will do justice to the iconic entry in the crime drama film genre.