EXCLUSIVE: David Robert Mitchell has added 10 to the cast of They Follow, the Neon-backed follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2015 horror film It Follows: Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children), Justine Lupe (Succession), Anna Mirodin (Ivan), Jayne Taini (Unbelievable), Michael Gandolfini (Daredevil: Born Again), Tom Pecinka (Stereophonic), Melora Walters (Magnolia), Ben Krieger (Song Sung Blue), Natalie Shinnick (The Brutalist) and Jan Hoag (The Fabelmans).
The cast will be led by the returning Maika Monroe. Also set for a starring role is Naomi Ackie, who was in final talks as of last month, as we first reported, and is now officially set for the project.
Plot details for the long-anticipated sequel are under wraps, other than it taking place a decade after the events of the original film.
Written and directed by Mitchell, It Follows is a psychological horror centered on Jay Height (Monroe), a college student who, after a sexual encounter, becomes the target of an unstoppable supernatural entity. As the entity takes the form of random people, slowly but relentlessly stalking her and her friends through the Detroit area, she grapples with the fact that she will only be able to escape the curse she has inherited by passing it on to someone else through sex.
The film, whose cast also included Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi and Lili Sepe, was snapped up by Radius-TWC after premiering to rave reviews at Cannes in 2014. Regarded as one of the best horror films of the 2010s, the project launched Monroe to stardom and made a studio director of Mitchell, all while grossing around $23M against a reported budget of a little more than a million.
On They Follow, Mitchell will once again be directing from his own script. He’s also producing alongside Harvest Hill Entertainment’s Jake Weiner, Chris Bender of Good Fear Content, Northern Light Media Ventures’ Erik Rommesmo, FirstGen Content’s Mike D’Alto and Randal Sandler, Curious Gremlin’s Scott Aharoni and Sinan Eczacıbaşı, Kaplan Morrison’s David Kaplan, Rebecca Green and Laura Smith. Mark Bennett is casting the film.
Neon reps worldwide rights to They Follow and will release the film in U.S. theaters. Neon International is handling foreign sales. Deals were negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers by Hayden Goldblatt of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, Eugene Pikulin of Bruns Brennan Berry Pikulin Jacobs, Michael Weiss of Concentric Law, and Wifreddy Chiang of Baseline Media.
Coming off its seventh consecutive Palme d’Or win at Cannes with Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, which is slated for release on October 9, Neon’s 2026 slate also includes Na Hong-Jin’s Hope premiering September 9, James Gray’s Paper Tiger premiering November 13 and Arie and Chuko’s Clarissa premiering December 11. The company also recently acquired Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, chronicling the sudden firing and reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI, from Amazon MGM Studios.
Ackie is represented by CAA, B-Side Management, Range Media Partners, and Peikoff Mahan Law Office; Haley by Gersh, Leslie Allan-Rice Management, and Yorn Levine Barnes; Lupe by CAA; Mirodin by Innovative Artists and Play Management; Taini by SDB Partners and The Zachary Co; Gandolfini by WME, Untitled Entertainment, and Sloane Offer Weber & Dern; Pecinka by IAG and Untitled Entertainment; Walters by Artists & Representatives, Inphenate, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Krieger by CESD Talent Agency and Brave Artists Management; Shinnick by Stewart Talent, Entertainment 360, and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum; and Hoag by Amsel Eisenstadt Frazier & Hinojosa Talent Agency.
