Australia's A24 mavericks, the Philippou brothers, are making a sequel to Talk to Me

The YouTubers' debut feature film might have only just been released, but a sequel has already been ordered by A24.

By Dani Maher

Published: Aug 9, 2023

IF THE PAST two weeks have taught us anything, it’s that there’s no stopping the Philippou brothers. The Adelaide-born twins, Danny and Michael, made the switch from unhinged YouTubers (ever heard of RackaRacka?) to A24 darlings last year when their debut feature film, Talk to Me, was acquired by the indie film studio after being screened at Sundance Film Festival. And when it had its international theatrical release in late July, the film opened to widespread critical acclaim and a nearly AUD$15 million debut—A24’s second largest to date.

But that’s not all: It’s just been confirmed that the Philippous are officially coming back for more with a sequel.

Read on for everything we know so far.

What is the sequel to Talk to Me?

The Philippous seem to have taken inspiration from the Fast & Furious cinematic universe when choosing the title of the sequel for Talk to Me—it’ll be called Talk 2 Me (how very 2 Fast 2 Furious of them). Like the original film, Talk 2 Me will be co-written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman, directed by Michael and Danny Philippou, and released by A24.

What is Talk 2 Me about?

Spoilers ahead! From what we know so far, it seems as though the sequel will focus on a whole new group of unfortunate souls stumbling upon the embalmed hand featured in the first film, and meeting the even more unfortunate souls it channels. Writer Danny Philippou had already teased the possibility for sequels, telling Deadline that in the process of redrafting the original film, he couldn’t help “but start writing other scenes, scenes of different people experiencing the hands, continuing on these characters’ story. So, there’s scenes for a sequel, yeah.”

He also told The Hollywood Reporter that there’s actually an entire prequel that has been shot too, revolving around Duckett—the character we meet in Talk to Me‘s prologue, who has already gone down the wrong path with the possessions and ends up stabbing his brother before killing himself.

“We actually shot an entire Duckett prequel already. It’s told entirely through the perspective of mobile phones and social media, so maybe down the line we can release that,” Philippou said. “But also while writing the first film, you can’t help but write scenes for a second film. So there’s so many scenes. The mythology was so thick, and if A24 gave us the opportunity, we wouldn’t be able to resist. I feel like we’d jump at it.” Jump at it they did.

Who will be in Talk 2 Me?

It’s still very early days, so there’s no word yet as to who will be shaking hands with the dead and disturbed in Talk 2 Me—and no spoilers, but we doubt the original cast will be returning.

Given the success of the debut, we wouldn’t be surprised if some even starrier names were thrown in the mix—but as the Philippous told Esquire Australia ahead of Talk to Me‘s release, they’re firm believers in doing what’s best for the film, not just hiring big names for the sake of it (“We lost budget by casting [Sophie Wilde] because she wasn’t a ‘name,’ but it was so worth it,” Danny said). They’ve also learned the importance of sticking to their creative guns: “You always hear those nightmares of, you know, directors getting screwed over by Hollywood. We just didn’t want that—we wanted it to be the movie that we wanted to make,” Michael told Esquire Australia.