Are you ready for the CCU (the Cloverfield Cinematic Universe)? Paramount and producer J.J. Abrams are doubling down on their upcoming sequel/spinoff 10 Cloverfield Lane with plans to turn the Cloverfield universe into a legitimate anthology of films and Abrams says he already knows what the next movie will be.

Audiences have yet to really figure out what 10 Cloverfield Lane is, or what it’s actual connection to Cloverfield is, but Abrams is looking into the future, telling Entertainment Weekly they’ve got some “really cool” ideas for future Cloverfield films:

I would be lying if I didn’t say there was something else that, if we’re lucky enough to do it, could be really cool that connects some stories…There is something else that we’d like to do, and hopefully we’ll get a shot.

First, let’s be honest and admit that at this point in his career, if J.J. Abrams wants to do something, he’ll get a shot. It’s not like there’s an executive somewhere who, when Abrams brings him an idea for a sequel, will go, “Yeahhhh, we know you directed the biggest movie of all-time, but no thanks man.” If J.J. gets even the slightest sense that audiences are interested in 10 Cloverfield Lane and the mythology it introduces, then this upcoming third Cloverfield movie will happen.

The question is whether this will be a wholly original movie, or a rethinking of an existing Bad Robot project. Much has been written about how 10 Cloverfield Lane, originally titled “Valencia,” was shot as a self-contained Twilight Zone type movie. It sat on the shelf at Paramount for over a year as they tried to figure out what to do with it and when Abrams finally wrapped on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there was the idea to turn the film into a Cloverfield story via some reshoots and clever editing.

Abrams and Bad Robot have two sci-fi themed projects in the works at Paramount: God Particle and Collider. The latter was a larger-budgeted film, once set up for Edgar Wright (though he has since moved on to other projects). The former is something very much like 10 Cloverfield Lane; a smaller, self-contained thriller. Here’s what we know about the film from its logline: “In the near future, a team of astronauts on a space station make a terrifying discovery that challenges all they know about the fabric of reality, as they desperately fight for their survival.” So…Cloverfield in Space?

Of course, it’s highly possible that Abrams and Bad Robot have a more formal Cloverfield movie in the works, but whatever it is, J.J. will try to keep it inside his mystery box as long as possible.

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