'A Quiet Place' gets loud with new spinoff spawned from original John Krasinski idea

While Paramount has yet to release A Quiet Place Part II, the studio is already looking to expand upon its budding horror universe beyond the upcoming sequel. A new report from Deadline states that Jeff Nichols (known for such indie darlings as Take Shelter and Midnight Special) has been tapped to write a direct a new film set within the monster-infested world of A Quiet Place. John Krasinski, who wrote and directed the first two entries in the franchise, came up with the original idea for the new project, which is eyeing a 2022 release.

While there are no plot details at this time, Deadline surmises that Nichols' film probably won't be a direct sequel, but a different animal altogether, a sort of spinoff that takes audiences to a different part of a post-apocalyptic landscape crawling with sound-sensitive aliens. "The movie progressed so quickly, you barely had time to ask how the world got that way, and whether the creatures might be defeated. So there’s plenty of room creatively to stretch this out," writes the outlet.

Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller will produce the mystery feature under their Platinum Dunes banner. Krasinski and  Allyson Seeger are also attached as producers via their Sunday Night production company.

John Krasinski in A Quiet Place (Credit: Paramount Pictures)

Originally slated to open in March of this year, A Quiet Place Part II was delayed several times as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the summer, Paramount finally decided to push the sequel to April 23, 2021 — more than a year after its intended release date. Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe return to play the remaining members of the Abbott family, while Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou join the series as brand-new survivors. Despite dying at the end of the first movie, Krasinski's character (Abbott patriarch, Lee) will appear in flashbacks to when the creatures first attacked the planet.

The first Quiet Place was a sleeper hit, bringing in $340 million at the global box office and cementing Krasinski as a promising directorial voice. Krasinski co-wrote the original with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, but went solo on script duties for the second entry.

Nichols is currently working on two other projects: Yankee Comandante and The Boy Who Played with Fusion.