‘Searching 2’: Directors And Story Details Revealed For “Screenlife” Thriller

When you’ve spent the better part of a year communicating with friends and family only through Zoom calls, movies that capture the “Screenlife” experience hardly feel special. It’s funny, the genre was having quite the boom before the whole pandemic lockdown happened, and probably the shining jewel of them all was Aneesh Chaganty’s thriller, Searching, which starred John Cho as a father searching for his missing daughter using his computer and other online resources.

A sequel to Searching has been in the works for a while, and while we knew Cho wouldn’t be returning, it’s only now that we’re learning who the directors will be and details on the story. Turns out it will be the original film’s editors, Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, who will take over directing the film. Chaganty sticks around as a producer, joined by Sev Ohanian and Natalie Qasabian, Adam Sidman and Timur Bekmambetov. It’s Bekmambetov who has really taken to the “Screenlife” format through his pair of Unfriended horror films.

Without Cho, it was clear that a new story was in the works. The sequel is being described as “an evolved Screenlife thriller format where the story plays out on the screens of the characters’ devices.” Ohanian and Chaganty came up with the story, which Merrick and Johnson will also write.

Chaganty told Deadline, “With such restrictive visual parameters, a movie like ‘Searching 2‘ requires a fresh visual style to separate it from the original. I’ve contributed what I can to this growing sub-genre. But if there’s anyone on the planet with the potential to take it even further, it’s Nick and Will, who were there from the beginning.”

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.