What Happened to the 'Source Code' Sequel? (2024)

The Big Picture

Director Duncan Jones made a name for himself with the indie hit Moon and sci-fi thriller Source Code, but sadly, we've yet to see any sequels.
Source Code was a success at the box office, earning five times its production budget, leading to plans for a sequel with director Anna Foerster.
Despite initial plans for a sequel, including a potential director and writer returning, the project ultimately never materialized.

Director Duncan Jones made a name for himself when he directed 2008's Moon, the indie hit that led to the filmmaker directing 2011's Source Code. The sci-fi thriller stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Captain Colter Stevens, a soldier whose consciousness can be placed in the source code computer program which "enables you to cross over into another man's identity in the last eight minutes of his life." The man in question is Sean, whose only real value for Colter's mission is that he was present for a bomb explosion on a Chicago L-train. Colter's mind is tasked with reliving the events prior to the explosion over and over again until he can identify the terrorist responsible. It's a great premise worthy of several potential stories, but sadly we've yet to see any sequels.

Source Code

PG-13

Action

Drama

Mystery

Sci-Fi

A soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.

Release Date: April 1, 2011
Director: Duncan Jones
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal , Michelle Monaghan , Vera Farmiga , Jeffrey Wright , Michael Arden , Cas Anvar , Russell Peters , Brent Skagford
Runtime: 93 Minutes
Main Genre: Sci-Fi
Writers: Ben Ripley
Studio: Summit Entertainment

How Does 'Source Code' End?

While posing as Sean to complete his mission, Colter becomes friendly with his fellow passenger Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan), but it's a bittersweet relationship since he knows her death is imminent and irreparable. Between attempts, Colter is briefed by Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) but then it's revealed the Colter actually died several months ago in Afghanistan. His body is being kept alive so that his limited brain can be used in service of the source code technology. Colter agrees to complete his mission but makes Goodwin promise to let his body die after. She betrays her superior, Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) who developed the technology, leaving Colter and Christina to live out their "lives" in another world, and Colter's real body to expire. But what happened to the planned Source Code sequel, and what would that have even been?

'Source Code' Was a Success With a Sequel in the Works

Against an estimated production budget of $30 million, the film earned respectable results at the box office, earning $54 million domestically and $147 million worldwide. With earnings around five times the budget spent, The Mark Gordon Company and Vendome Pictures were eager to produce another film in the Source Code franchise. Screenwriter Ben Ripley was set to return for the sequel, but director Duncan Jones had already moved on to direct 2016's Warcraft and would then return to the world of Moon in 2018's Mute afterward. This created an opening for Outlander director Anna Foerster to sign onto the Source Code sequel as director.

Although this film never ended up happening, Anna Foerster was a no-brainer for Mark Gordon at the time, having served as 2nd Unit Director on the films 10,000 B.C. and The Day After Tomorrow, which also starred Jake Gyllenhaal. She had also directed several episodes of Criminal Minds and Army Wives for the executive producer and was well suited to sci-fi after her experience in the visual effects departments on Independence Day and Pitch Black. As of late 2014, nothing new has been revealed about the project including the announcement of the sequel being scrapped. It's likely Source Code 2 is still the victim of development hell, but since Source Code's protagonist and love interest are vaguely deceased, who in the cast would have even returned for the sequel?

What Would 'Source Code 2' Have Been About?

What Happened to the 'Source Code' Sequel? (3)

In Source Code, Colter's clinically dead body is part of an operation called Beleaguered Castle and only an iota of his brain still functions. Wishing to be released from the tortuous time loop after this mission, Colter makes a deal with the head of the operation Dr. Rutledge that he will be 100% terminated, but Dr. Rutledge doesn't keep to his word. The fruits of his labor with the source code technology are finally showing. Goodwin breaks rank, however, and is arrested for letting Colter's body die, but Colter's consciousness continues to live with Christina in the alternate timeline. A final twist sees Goodwin (in the timeline where Colter prevented the explosion) receiving an email from him. "At some point today, you are going to hear about a failed terrorist attack on a commuter train near Chicago. You and I kept that bomb from going off."

Was Jake Gyllenhaal Set To Return For the 'Source Code' Sequel?

Jake Gyllenhaal spoke at SXSW about his positive experience filming Source Code, calling it "so much fun." Even his first experience of reading the script was positive, and it only got better from there. "The first 10 pages I read, and I was like, 'Ah, I love this movie!' [...] it was when Duncan wanted to make the movie, I went like, 'All right, this is it. I’m so psyched.' I geeked out on him." So despite his love of the material, would Gyllenhaal have reprized his role as Captain Colter Stevens even if it meant working with Anna Foerster instead of Duncan Jones? It's hard to say, since despite announcements of the sequel's above-the-line crew, no actors were officially confirmed as set to return. "The [original] script was wonderful to read. Like so wonderful to read. But I knew that the characters and the ideas could get really muddled," said Gyllenhaal, praising Duncan Jones specifically. "I think it’s even more rare that a director can pull it off."

A sequel without Gyllenhaal would have been curious to see as his performance was pivotal to the movie's reception. Colter Stevens is thrown into an unimaginable situation and Gyllenhaal is able to effortlessly bring the audience along through his understandable confusion, fear, and panic. He eventually steps up to the plate admirably, and when he is rewarded with something of happy ending, you can't help but be elated for his success. Gyllenhaal's onscreen chemistry with Michelle Monaghan and dynamic with Vera Farmiga are so captivating to watch that it would have been somewhat interesting to see what the sequel would have substituted in for these if the actors did not return. Perhaps an entirely different character would have stepped into the source code for a new adventure. That would likely have been the case if the once planned TV adaptation had made it to screen.

It's perhaps safer to assume that the one actor the movie sequel couldn't work without would be Jeffrey Wright, since his character Dr. Rutledge is responsible for creating the technology and his ambition for using the source code indefinitely comes with its own built-in antagonistic presence. Regardless, whether it's Wright, Gyllenhaal, Monaghan or Farmiga, no actors had officially signed onto the sequel by 2014, which is where the trail of breadcrumbs about this sequel seems to end.

In An Alternate Universe, Maybe The 'Source Code' Sequel Did Happen

As a standalone movie, Source Code hasn't had a sequel publicly discussed for a decade. Then, why is there still such interest from the fans? In short, because Source Code was an original, unique take on the sci-fi genre, and received an enormous amount of critical praise upon its release. The movie establishes a single solid premise that not only carries the weight of its own convoluted plot with ease, but implies an infinite number of stories yet to be told. Still certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Source Code earned a long list of five-star reviews, including the following from The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw:

"With its train setting and Chris Bacon's score imitating the jagged clamour of Bernard Herrmann, the movie is clearly indebted to the Hitchco*ck of North By Northwest and Strangers on a Train. But it's also a particularly tense and fraught kind of Groundhog Day, and just as in that film, repetition endows banal, forgettable events with an eerie familiarity and inevitability."

As Bradshaw notes, not only does Source Code tap into the tone of the long-lost mid-budget thrillers of yesteryear (albeit with a sci-fi twist), but it also builds on a premise made famous by the Harold Ramis-directed studio comedy Groundhog Day. Since then, the "live, die, repeat" idea has gone on to inspire genres such as horror (Happy Death Day), indie comedy (Palm Springs), TV mystery (Russian Doll), and even became the tagline for the Tom Cruise action movie Edge of Tomorrow. If this isn't proof that there's a market for more Source Code stories, we don't know what is.

After filming Source Code, Jake Gyllenhaal went on to star alongside Michael Peña in End of Watch. By the time a Source Code sequel was likely being discussed, the actor had moved onto back-to-back Denis Villeneuve productions, Prisoners and Enemy. By the time the trail of a potential Source Code sequel became cold, Gyllenhaal was receiving praise for his performance in 2014's Nightcrawler, and has rarely been away from our screens since then. It's clear that the movie star feels no need to return to the Source Code franchise, especially after this long, but perhaps, like in the movie, there's an alternate universe in which our dreams came true.

Source Code is currently available to stream on Max in the U.S.

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