Cloverfield 4 Is Not Overlord, But a “True” Sequel

Producer J.J. Abrams has revealed that the next Cloverfield movie is not the supernatural WWII film, Overlord, which is currently in development at Bad Robot. There had been rumors for months that Overlord, which is about a Nazi experiment gone terribly wrong in a small, war-torn village, would become Cloverfield 4. 

“We’re actually developing a true, dedicated Cloverfield sequel,” Abrams told journalists at CinemaCon (via Variety). It’s unclear what he means by “true” and “dedicated.” On the one hand, it could mean that the next Cloverfield will be a direct sequel to the original monster flick. More likely, Abrams means that the next film won’t just be recycled from an unrelated movie, as was the case with 10 Cloverfield Lane, which was originally a project titled “The Cellar,” or The Cloverfield Paradox, which was conceived as The God Particle.

further reading: Overlord Review

Instead, it sounds like Cloverfield 4 is an original idea designed to be a Cloverfield movie. After watching the patched together Cloverfield Paradox, which was re-shot to fit in with the franchise’s continuity despite it having basically nothing to do with it as it was first conceived, we can’t say we blame Paramount for wanting to abandon that way of doing things. Hopefully, this will make for a better movie. 

Additionally, Abrams confirmed that Cloverfield 4 will be released in theaters, as opposed to Paradox, which had a surprise debut on Netflix on Super Bowl Sunday. 

further reading: Overlord Ending Explained

Overall, this sounds like good news for the franchise. I still hope that the next installment still maintains the Twilight Zone-esque anthology element that 10 Cloverfield Lane did so well. As Paradox proved, tying these movies so closely together is a mistake.

We have everything you need to know about Overlord right here.