Night Swim hasn't even been released in cinemas yet, and director Bryce McGuire already has plans for a sequel. In fact, the filmmaker has encouraged genre fans to look out for an early Easter egg in the haunted pool horror that could set up a second installment.
"There's enough to be satisfied and provoke your imagination, but also there's more you want to learn," he says of the upcoming film in the new issue of SFX magazine, which features Doctor Who's Ncuti Gatwa on the cover. "There are deeper layers beneath the iceberg. The unknown is sometimes the scariest thing."
While he says he doesn't "want to jinx anything" when it comes to Night Swim's success, McGuire claims "there are much deeper waters to explore" and explained, "There's a little Easter egg in one of the early scenes that, to me, points a path to where I'd like to go. It would be fun to explore and expand the mythology."
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Produced by Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom's James Wan and M3GAN's Jason Blum, the Atomic Monster-Blumhouse collaboration stars Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Amélie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren, and Wyatt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of the Monsters). It follows Ray Waller, a former baseball player navigating a degenerative illness, who relocates his family to the quiet suburbs following his early retirement.
When he and his two children discover there's a swimming pool in the backyard of their new home, they're thrilled; the youngsters envisioning summer parties with their friends and Ray hoping it'll provide physical therapy for himself. But the Wallers wind up getting more than they bargained for when they realize that the pool is home to a malevolent entity.
Night Swim releases in cinemas on January 5. The above is just a snippet from our interview with McGuire, available in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Doctor Who on the cover and is available on newsstands from Friday, December 29. For even more from SFX, sign up for the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.