Allison Janney Joins Bad Robot Thriller 'Lou', Which We'll Assume Is A 'Cloverfield' Sequel For Now

There was a time when every new Bad Robot movie was presumed to be a new secret Cloverfield sequel. That trend has apparently died out, but maybe we can get it going again with Bad Robot's latest, a thriller called Lou.

Allison Janney has joined the cast of the thriller, which involves a young woman and her landlord trying to rescue a kidnapped child. I'm not sure how this could be a Cloverfield movie, so it probably isn't. But maybe it is! And maybe it's really called Clouverfield! (It's not).

I miss the "is this a Cloverfiled movie?" days. After the surprise release of 10 Cloverfield Lane, it seemed possible that any Bad Robot movie might be a Cloverfield entry. Indeed, at one point, the upcoming Bad Robot joint Overlord was thought to be a Cloverfield film. After the disappointment that was The Cloverfield Paradox, however, it seems all has gone quiet on that front. Which means Lou, an upcoming Bad Robot pic, is most likely not part of the Cloverfield universe. Instead, according to THR, the film follows "a young woman and her landlord, Lou, who team up to track down the former's child after the girl is kidnapped by the woman's estranged husband." The tone of the script is described as Thelma and Louise meets Taken.

The excellent Allison Janney will play Lou the landlord, and her character is described as "a hard-shelled and rule-breaking woman that has unexpectedly impressive tracking abilities, among other skill sets." Sold! I'm all-in on Allison Janney as a crazy, ass-kicking landlord. Sure, this isn't the most original plot in the world, but Janney always turns in a killer performance, and the prospect of seeing her play this character is very promising. If this opens up a whole new world of action hero roles for Janney the way Taken did for Liam Neeson, I'll be thrilled.

Lou was written by Maggie Cohn (American Crime Story) with revision by Jack Stanley, who wrote the script for the still-unproduced Chronicle 2. Anna Foerster, who helmed Underworld: Blood Wars, and episodes of Jessica Jones, Outlander and Criminal Minds, is directing. Bad Robot big cheese J.J. Abrams will produce, along with Hell or High Water producer Braden Aftergood.

The thriller was originally a Paramount production, but now Bad Robot is raising the scratch to make the movie independently. Production on Lou is likely to begin sometime in Spring 2019. Maybe by then we'll know for certain if this is or isn't a Cloverfield movie (it's not).