Bird Box author confirms a sequel novel will open its eyes soon

Ladies and gentlemen, start your blindfolds!

According to Esquire, Bird Box author Josh Malerman is hard at a work on a sequel to his 2014 novel that inspired the meme-worthy Netflix film. Titled Malorie, the follow-up will feature the protagonist of the first book, the character played by Sandra Bullock in the Susanne-Bier directed movie.

"In the time between Bird Box coming out and the time since I’ve been writing Malorie, I’ve been asked a ton of times: people want to know what happened with Boy and Girl," Malerman said. "But as much as I care about Boy and Girl, this isn’t their story. The Bird Box world is Malorie’s story, and I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to get to know her even better. At the end of the movie, I turned to my girl Allison and said, 'I want to know what happens next!' and she’s like, 'Well, you know, you could make that happen,' so it really was this warm feeling."

Bird Box takes place in a world where mysterious entities (demons? Lovecraftian horrors?) cause people to kill themselves simply by looking at them. As such, human survivors tie blindfolds around their eyes when traveling outside. 

Like she does in the movie, the novel versions of Malorie and her two kids (one natural, one adopted) travel down a dangerous river to find refuge at a school for the blind. Since the monsters can only harm a person through sight, a blind individual cannot be harmed by them.

Check out the official cover art in the tweet below:

When asked if the sequel will open in the same place, and whether or not we'll learn more about the creatures, Malerman teased:

"Yeah, sort of. They’ve left there. Similar in that they’re trying to make things work. It’s not like it opens with them in paradise ... I don’t want to give too much away. Let me think of a cool way to put it. I will say this: we get to know both Malorie and the creatures better."

The film adaptation garnered 45 million views in its first week alone, but drew controversy for inspiring a life-threatening "Bird Box Challenge" and using real-life footage of the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. While Netflix originally said that it would not remove the stock video from Bird Box, pressure from the Canadian government and social media prompted the company to reverse its decision.

Yesterday, it was announced that Ridley Scott's production company is working on a film adaptation of another Malerman novel, Black Mad Wheel.

Malorie goes on sale Oct. 1 of this year, will you be giving it a look?