Netflix is doubling down on Oscar-winner Chris Williams after he gave them their biggest animated film of the year with The Sea Beast. A sequel to the monster-hunting adventure is in the works at the streamer as one of two projects he’s helming after signing an overall deal to stay with the company according to The Hollywood Reporter. Little is currently known about the feature, but it will see the return of veteran adventurer Jacob Holland (Karl Urban) and his newly-adopted daughter Maisie Brumble (Zaris-Angel Hator).
A sequel to The Sea Beast was a no-brainer for Netflix. Despite facing stiff competition this year with the return of Henry Selick in Wendell & Wild and the highly-anticipated release of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio among others, the former Disney writer and animator Williams created the most viewed animated feature in the platform’s history based on the number of hours viewed in the film’s first 28 days. Its seven-week run among the Netflix Global Weekly Top 10 Films list is also second behind only the Ryan Reynolds-led The Adam Project at eight weeks. Furthermore, The Sea Beast also hung around in the Top 10 for 40 non-consecutive days or more in 30 separate countries.
Until the success of The Sea Beast, Williams had never even considered a sequel. Neither did Netflix, for that matter, as he detailed they were ready to keep him aboard even before the film exploded. Speaking with THR, once he knew that the sequel was a go and began to plan it out, he realized there was plenty more to explore:
