John Krasinski’s sequel to his 2018 film, A Quiet Place 2, is one of the most highly anticipated horror movies of the year, and a new trailer just revealed that - despite his death in the first film - Krasinski will reprise his role as Lee Abbott in the sequel.

The film’s first full trailer dropped on January 1, 2020, and revealed that there would be, at least in part, a flashback sequence that detailed the first day (“Day 1”) of the alien outbreak. In the flashback, Evelyn (Emily Blunt), is driving with her children when suddenly, chaos breaks out. People are running in the streets, screaming, cars are crashing around her, and a bus starts careening toward her family’s car backwards; at the last moment, one of the creatures crawls out of the bus’ shattered window. In the first trailer, mention is made that their father (Krasinski) was spotted amongst the crowds of people. While it was unclear whether this singular mention of his character would be Krasinski’s only involvement, other than writing and directing the film, the newest trailer spot has revealed that he will actually make an appearance.

Set to air during 2020’s Super Bowl, the newest trailer for A Quiet Place 2 reveals Krasinski in a flashback; it’s an obvious way to include a deceased character, but he has stated that the sequel will avoid many of the formulaic structures that so many follow-up films abide by, and differentiate itself from the masses. Could this mean he’s going to have a larger role than was originally expected?

John Krasinski’s Lee Abbott Appears In A Flashback

Sci-fi horror has seen a resurgence since 2018, which was partially due to A Quiet Place and Annihilation. Based on the trailer, the aliens who have colonized Earth in the film’s universe, will be shown in a more direct way than the first, which bodes well for audiences who enjoy the visceral imagery of films like the Alien franchise, which eventually showed their Xenomorphs front and center over ones like Cloverfield, where much is shielded from view until the very end. However, A Quiet Place was more attuned to the family dynamic of the Abbotts, who lost their first child early in the original film, and now must care for a newborn baby in the second, despite babies being naturally noisy and - therefore - dangerous in the current setting.

From what is known so far, Lee (Krasinski) speaks to a police officer about “some kind of fire” while his daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) waits in the car. Seconds later, one of the creatures barrels into the police officer’s vehicle and flips it over while Lee takes off running back toward his car. Perhaps if multiple segments of this first day are shown throughout the film, interspersed throughout the narrative, a larger portion will be dedicated to showing how the Abbott clan reunited during the initial outbreak.

As it stands, we now know how they were divided on that first day. The rest of the trailer shows shots that were already explored in the first trailer, including the haunting line about “people out there… people worth saving”, which implies that the location of survivors and banding together might become a part of the film’s current timeline. This could lead-in to the inclusion of Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou’s characters, whose characters have been featured, but remain relatively mysterious. As it stands, the present timeline of A Quiet Place 2 has been revealed to take place directly after the first movie.

Next: Every Sci-Fi Horror Movie Releasing In 2020

  • A Quiet Place 2 Release Date: 2021-05-28