One Of The Best Sci-Fi Movies Ever Made Is Getting A Surprise Sequel

"Coherence" is one of the best sci-fi thrillers there is – the type of movie that breaks your brain in the best possible way. It's a mind-bending movie that tells a grand scale story in a small scale setting, but without the need for diagrams to explain its plot à la "Primer." In this regard, it's the more accessible version of that cult classic.

In a nutshell, "Coherence" is the kind of low-budget indie genre movie that tells a simple story and leaves an impact, with its filmmakers going on to make bigger-budget movies. It is not, however, the kind of film that seems designed to spawn a franchise. Yet, somehow, more than a decade after its release, it appears director James Ward Byrkit is developing a sequel — and he's recruited producer Kate Andrews from the spectacularly twisted "It's What's Inside" to join the project.

According to Deadline, Byrkit has been "inundated with pitches for sequels and offers for remakes ever since the film came out," but nothing inspired the director until he received an email from Kate Andrews with "two words that unlocked the box." What were those words? Probably "More 'Coherence.'" Plot details are kept secret, including whether this is going to be a direct sequel, a prequel, an alternate universe story, or something else. At least we know Byrkit will return to direct the new movie and write the script with Alex Manugian, who co-wrote the story for the first film.

The first "Coherence" follows eight friends at a dinner party who experience a comet passing by, which leads to an escalating series of weird and reality-melting events. The idea of more "Coherence" is intriguing; the world of the original film was big enough to open itself up to more stories, yet the movie's production was too unique to be easily replicated. You see, every actor in the film was a close friend of Byrkit. However, the "Coherence" cast didn't not know one another and arrived on set with "no knowledge of what [they] were doing," according to Byrkit. Not only that, the actors received neither a working script nor even a brief about who their characters were. 

Instead, every actor was given "a page of notes for what they had to do" every day, including bits of backstory, motivations, and some vague acting directions. For example, if an actor received the note "Somehow, get outside tonight," they'd have to improvise finding an excuse to go outside, without knowing what the rest of the cast had to do that day. This led to genuine reactions and dialogue that was improvised and natural — kind of like a less torturous version of shooting "The Blair Witch Project."

Will Byrkit be able to replicate this in a follow-up? It's unlikely. Even if the next batch of actors doesn't get scripts or anything, the world and the story of "Coherence" are out there and easy to check out, which eliminates some of that initial surprise and charm. Still, don't discount Byrkit's ability to craft a compelling mystery.