Were you one of the many, many millions of people who saw A Quiet Place?

And are you one of the many, many millions of people still thinking about it, and its portrayal of a post-apocalyptic world in which making a sound could spell the end of your days? 

We don’t blame you. Actor-director John Krasinksi’s clever horror movie starring himself and real-life wife Emily Blunt as Lee and Evelyn Abbott really struck a chord with audiences, making a huge amount of money at the box office and winning Blunt a Best Supporting Actress award at the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards.  

And if you are, then you know that Krasinski won’t be returning to the sequel, on account of him perishing valiantly at the end of the film. The last we saw of the Abbott family was Evelyn, rifle cocked and ready, protecting her children from the monsters from the basement of her house.

Kransinksi has decided, however, that a good way to ring in the new year is with a well-timed dose of terror, dropping the full trailer for A Quiet Place’s forthcoming sequel - and it’s safe to say, there’s no respite for the Abbott family any time soon. Here’s everything we know about the movie so far.

Who is going to star in A Quiet Place 2? 

Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy is going to join the world of A Quiet Place 2, The Hollywood Reporter, um, reports. According to the publication, Murphy will be playing a man with “mysterious intentions who joins the family unit.”

It doesn’t sound like the Irish actor is going to be a good guy, does it? But then, if there’s something we can credit to Krasinski, he really knows how to write a cracking script full of twists and turns. Who knows what side Murphy’s character will really be on.

Blunt will reprise her role as Abbot matriarch Evelyn. (Securing the return of your star in the sequel is easy when you’re married to her, we suppose.) Actors Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, who played Abbott children Marcus and Regan, will also be returning. No word on yet on who is going to play the Abbott’s new baby, born in the middle of a very tense sequence in A Quiet Place.

Who is going to direct A Quiet Place 2?

Krasinski might not be starring in the sequel to his hit movie, but he will be back in the director’s chair. The actor is currently working on the script and is slated to direct the second instalment.

In interviews Krasinski has spoken about how the experience of directing his wife strengthened their marriage. “I never have loved my wife more than after we did this movie,” Krasinki said. “And we were really nervous about it. It really could’ve gone the other way, we could be announcing our divorce right now if it did go the wrong way.” 

Krasinski continued: “But I think, for me, it was a trust thing. We trust each other in day-to-day life for sure, but when you trust each other in this way it’s really different. But the way we went about it was sort of the way we go about our marriage, which is ‘Let’s be really honest. Let’s be honest from the beginning so that nothing surprises us, but we get to say all the things we feel.”

He added: “So I let her go through the script and let me know any changes she wanted to make, I pitched the entire movie to her and said how we were gonna shoot it and said ‘Is there anything you’d change?’ We were really honest with each other from the beginning. By the time we were shooting, it was just the best.” 

What is A Quiet Place 2 going to be about?

Krasinski has been very tight-lipped about what exactly is going to happen in the sequel. We’re not clear on the plot of the new film, and whether or not they’ll be facing off against the same terrifying sound-seeking monsters or a new set of foes we are yet to meet. Maybe humankind will be the real villain in A Quiet Place 2. We’re just spitballing here.

All Krasinski has said is this: “Usually in sequels it’s a hero or a villain that you bring back and you have to build a world around that character because you’re bringing back a character,” he told CNN. “But you don’t have a world. We have the world.”

The official synopsis, meanwhile, gives a few more clues to their struggle to survive in a monstrous world.

“Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realise that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.”

So, less of a sequel and more of a world-builder, then, Krasinski?

It appears that way. Speaking to Business Insider, he revealed that: “[Emily] said: ‘This isn’t a sequel at all – this is the second book in a series of books. It’s a widening of a world.” 

Is there a trailer for A Quiet Place II?

Yes, and by the looks of things, the terror is only just beginning for the Abbott family.

Picking up right after the events of the first film, we see Evelyn driving through a post-apocalyptic town, trying to tune into the radio to work out what’s going on. All around people are fleeing, and the source of the terror soon becomes apparent, as an oncoming bus speeds towards them, overrun with alien monsters who attack at the slightest sound.

We then see Evelyn silently roaming the wilderness with Regan, Marcus and newborn Beau in search of safety, where they are rescued by a masked man (played by Cillian Murphy) who fatalistically tells her “there’s nothing left”. Evelyn suggests that there are people worth saving in the world, but the man bitterly tells her that the are “not the kind of people worth saving”. The rest of the trailer, as you’ll discover, is a terrifying cat-and-mouse montage of the family attempting to stave off alien attacks, as well as a intense shot of Evelyn cocking a shotgun and readying herself to protect her family.

What is the release date of A Quiet Place 2?

15 May, 2020. Mark the date in your diaries now. 

Images: Paramount, Getty, YouTube