The Devil All the Time director teases sequel possibility
The short and sweet plot synopsis of Netflix's The Devil All the Time reads: "A young man is devoted to protecting his loved ones in a town full of corruption and sinister characters." It isn't wrong of course, but when you sit down to watch the film you'll realise how sprawling and brutal the movie really is.
On the surface, The Devil All the Time doesn't seem like a film that is set up for a sequel. However, by the time you get to the end, you can't help but feel like there's room for more.
We spoke to The Devil All the Time co-writer and director Antonio Campos and we so we had to ask him if a sequel was something he saw in the future for the inhabitants of Knockemstiff. Warning: spoilers for The Devil All the Time follow.
"I would love to create a Knockemstiff universe," Campos told us (Knockemstiff being the town in which the film takes place, fo course), "and keep visiting that world and characters if someone gave me the chance." As is the way with many films with sequel hopes, much of the deciding factor is down to whether the first film performs well.
Netflix is notoriously cagey with its viewing figures, but from our positive response to The Devil All the Time, a sequel feels like a real possibility. There's also the fact that the story itself is a blatant set-up for more stories.
Firstly, you could follow Tom Holland's Arvin on the next set of his adventures, having escaped the legacy that his family — or God's will, if you believe what the characters themselves believe — his family burdened him with. At the end of the film, he's picked up by hitchhiking and heads to Cincinnati for a new life, finally feeling hopeful about his future.
There's also the possibility of staying in Knockemstiff and exploring other characters who live in the small Ohio town. Campos seems keener to explore the second option.
The Devil All the Time is based on a novel of the same name by Donald Ray Pollock who serves as the film's narrator, too. Though there is no sequel novel, that doesn't preclude Campos doing his own sequel — after all, we presume they've got a decent working relationship if the novelist was the narrator of Campos' film.
All this to say, we don't know what the future holds for the residents of Knockemstiff or for Arvin himself. There are many directions a sequel could go, but knowing fans they'll want to see the second instalment of Arvin's story. At least, we do.
The Devil All the Time is now available on Netflix.
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