‘Eternals 2’: Barry Keoghan Had To Text Kumail Nanjani For Updates, But Still Doesn’t Have Answers On A Sequel

Marvel Studios took some big chances when making “Eternals,” a feature film about the obscure god-like superheroes that the iconic Jack Kirby created. The Chloé Zhao-directed film took some liberties with the characters. One of those choices was making Barry Keoghan’s Druig, the villainous cousin of Ikaris, a more heroic and slightly romantic figure than his comic book counterpart leaving room for his return in a sequel. Marvel teased more adventures in space with the appearance of Starfox and Pip The Troll in the post-credits, but nearly one year later, there’s still no clear update on the future of an “Eternals 2.”

Keoghan, for his part, still isn’t sure if a sequel is a go. While speaking with Uproxx, the young Irish actor mentioned that the go-to cast member he’s been checking with Kumail Nanjiani about the status of a film via texts since the comedic actor seems to know everything that is going on. However, Keoghan’s impression is that he’s not entirely sure it is happening.

READ MORE: Patton Oswalt Seemingly Confirms ‘Eternals 2’ In The Works With Chloe Zhao Returning To Direct

“Kumail is always the one I’m texting,” he told Uproxx. “I’m like, ‘Yo, have you heard anything on ‘Eternals 2’?’ Kumail knows everything. You know what I mean? He loves comic books. The comic world. They’re secretly giving you all the information, and you’re just not telling Kumail. Maybe that’s what’s actually going on here. Well, I’m always texting him like about San Diego Comic-Con. I’m like, ‘Hey, are we going to San Diego for ‘Eternals’?’ but I’d love to see where it goes. I really would.”

Without getting too spoilery, the last film ended with Sersi being kidnapped by Arishem, a Celestial that tasked the Eternals to protect Earth. Other team members are on their ship Domo in outer space when they suddenly meet up with Harry Styles’ Starfox (brother of Thanos) and Patton Oswalt’s Pip. This post-credit gives us a sense a sequel wouldn’t be set on Earth and could be more of a cosmic adventure like “Guardians of The Galaxy.”

Part of the delay could be the box office and response. “Eternals” is the only film on Rotten Tomatoes with a rotten score, with the lowest of all MCU scores. Financially, “Eternals” only grossed $402.1 million worldwide, but it was 2021, still in the pandemic era, and to be fair, all three of Marvel’s films released during 2021, “Black Widow” and “Shang Chi,” all grossed less than $450 million.

Earlier this year, Patton Oswalt seemed to let the cat out of the bag by saying a sequel with Zhao returning was in the works, but Marvel/Disney hasn’t confirmed or announced any plans to the public yet. So, we’ll have to say tuned to see what happens.