The Trainspotting sequel is officially happening. The project was picked up by Sony’s TriStar label on Friday.
The new film will be directed by Danny Boyle, who became an international star thanks to the original 1996 film. John Hodge, who was nominated for an Oscar for adapting Irvine Welsh’s novel for the first film, is also returning to write the script.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Trainspotting 2 will also include the original cast. Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner and Robert Carlyle will all be back. The original Trainspotting did launch McGregor’s career, after he had appeared in Boyle’s feature film debut, Shallow Grave.
Welsh did write a sequel novel titled Porno, but that will not be the basis for the new film. Hodge has written an original screenplay, which will tell the audiences what happened to the group of Edinburgh heroin addicts two decades after Trainspotting.
The project landed at TriStar though Boyle’s long relationship with Sony Pictures co-chair Tom Rothman. When Rothman was CEO of Fox Searchlight, the label distributed Boyle’s Oscar-winning hit Slimdog Millionaire and 127 Hours.
Back in September, while promoting Steve Jobs at the Telluride Film Festival, Boyle made it clear that Trainspotting 2 was a priority for him.