Hope: 2026's Wildest Sci-Fi Film Could Go Even Bigger With A Sequel -- But Will We Ever Get One?

Published Sep 17, 2026, 4:20 PM EDT Brandon Zachary is a Lead Writer for Screen Rant's New Movie Team. He also writes or has written for Comicbook.com, CBR, That Hashtag Show, Just Watch, and TVBrittanyF. Brandon is an Emerging Screenwriters Semi-Finalist, co-writer of a Screencraft Quarter-Finalist, a seasoned on-screen interviewer, and a MASSIVE nerd. You can reach him at bs.zachary@gmail.com The following contains spoilers for HopeHope is an audacious sci-fi film that takes the trappings of a big blockbuster film and filters it through the very specific worldview of South Korean filmmaker Na Hong-jin. The movie, which opens on a small town contending with a mysterious creature attack, spirals into a wider story about aliens who've crashed onto Earth and found themselves fighting the locals. The bombastic film notably ends on a fairly open-ended note, with the actual alien interactions with humanity only just beginning. It's clear from the climax that there's more of the story to tell, something the director/writer has already teased and would like to explore. All that being said, here's everything we know about what Hope 2 would be about and if it even has a chance of coming out. How Hope's Wild Ending Sets Up An Even Bigger Sequel Hope's climax is a wild escalation of the movie's underlying sci-fi worldbuilding, which could be laying the groundwork for an even more expansive and explosive sequel. By the end of Hope, most of the town of Hope Harbor has been decimated by the creatures in the woods, who are revealed to be an alien royal family who crash-landed on Earth. In the movie's final moments, a massive spaceship is seen plummeting to Earth and crashing into a mountain. According to the aliens watching from afar, this is the flagship carrying the emperor. Rather than give in to despair, the matriarch of the royal family and her loyal bodyguard vow to find her missing son and restore him to life, undoing the death that seemed to set off the chaotic events in the first place. Any sequel would likely focus on the fallout of that reveal, following the aliens as they search for the body of the Kali, the crown prince. The government was last seen taking the body into their custody, setting up a more protracted conflict between the largely unstoppable aliens and the more effectively armed and prepped Korean military. There are also major questions about the fate of the remaining major human characters. As the film ends, Ko Bum-seok, Im Sung-ae, Ahn Nak-yeon, and Yang-bae are shown fleeing the destructive crash landing of the spaceship, rushing back to the town on foot to warn the rest of the world. They're also unaware that Ko Sung-ki actually survived his apparent death on the highway and is following them. This could set them up to remain important figures in a prospective sequel, serving as the human perspective against the backdrop of an apparently galactic-sized conflict. The sequel could see a more expansive alien force move through Earth and encounter a more dedicated response, or really showcase just how ill-prepared humanity is for a war from the stars to touch down on the planet. Will There Be A Sequel To Hope? Hope certainly ends on an open-ended note, suggesting that Na Hong-jin has plans for more. He's confirmed as much in public appearances, as confirmed by Variety. According to their reporting, Hong-jin confirmed his hopes for a sequel during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival. Na Hong-jin revealed that “I think you can readily imagine this sequel. And there’s a script that’s already been done that I’d like to shoot. So if I have the opportunity, I would indeed make a sequel if possible.” This suggests that Hong-jin already knows the prospective shape and scale of a potential sequel and that it would likely follow the fallout of the Emperor's ship crashing into the Earth. It would also pay off the hopes that the filmmaker has for the future of the property, according to an interview he gave to The Hollywood Reporter. According to Na Hong-jin, he conceived Hope as the first chapter in a larger franchise that could carry on beyond the initial storyline. Hong-jin even expressly noted that "when night comes in part two, military backup is going to arrive. Our main character, Bum-seok, he’s limping quite badly, but he’s still alive and in the fight, right? Don’t be surprised if he crosses over to the North." Despite these ambitions and the director's claims that their production companies are willing to finance a sequel, the director noted that "nothing is concrete yet." Hong-jin even revealed that he has an idea for an unrelated film that he might make next, although it's clear that the filmmaker really wants to keep exploring the world of Hope. Given the cliffhanger ending of the film, it'd certainly be exciting to see the director get the chance to really delve into the world and showcase what happens after Hope. Hope Release Date September 9, 2026 Runtime 157 minutes Director Na Hong-jin Writers Na Hong-jin Cast Hwang Jung-min Go Bum-seok