Neill Blomkamp’s District 10 Will Be A Lot Bigger Than District 9

For a long time, fans have been begging for a sequel. Now, 15 years later, District 10, the sequel to Neill Blomkamp’s odd fan-favourite South African sci-fi film, District 9, is finally happening. Or so it seems.

What Neill Blomkamp And Sharlto Copley Have Said About The District 9 Sequel

After Blomkamp’s horror film Demonic failed to fire up the box office, many fans were worried that he wouldn’t proceed with District 10. However, that no longer seems to be a concern. While filming had yet to begin, Blomkamp confirmed in 2021 that Terri Tachell (Blomkamp’s partner and wife) would write the screenplay and that star Sharlto Copley is also attached to the project as a co-writer and possibly reprising his role as Wikus.

Fans are excited to see Blomkamp’s next project, but given how long it has been since District 9, no one’s expecting the sequel to arrive anytime soon. Over the years, both director Neill Blomkamp and lead actor Sharlto Copley have spoken about how excited they would be to film District 10. In fact, a sequel has been teased since District 9 first came out: “If [District 9] is successful, if audiences want another, whatever, District 10, I would live to do it […] It’s a very personal film, and it’s a universe and a place that I find incredibly creative. I’d love to go back to that universe.”

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter promoting his sci-fi horror film Demonic, Neill Blomkamp spoke a little bit about his vision for District 10 when asked about the scale and scope of the film. “I think the approach of the first film is correct; it’s just really a question of the script. If there’s slightly more stuff happening in the script, then you need slightly more money. But I think it would still be as stripped-down and bare-bones as we could make it. That becomes more nimble and more creative, and personally, I like that.”

Blomkamp isn’t planning on making a CGI, action-heavy film like today’s popular films. Instead, he intends to keep it as close to the style of the original film as possible. While speaking with Comicbook.com, Copley mentioned that he and Blomkamp had often discussed doing a District 9 sequel, “We do. I mean, we came so close to doing it. So hopefully, after his next movie, maybe we’ll do it then.”

At the time, Copley was under the impression that once Blomkamp had finished Gran Turismo, he would start officially working on District 10. While the Chappie director supposedly confirmed that the District 9 sequel film was in development in February 2021, no announcements have been made regarding the film’s time frame. Copley later commented during an interview with Radio Times that progress on the film has stalled. “Neill’s got to stop lying to the public, because it’s creating havoc. It’s like if you say you’re going to do it, dude, just do it because now I’m sitting trying to… It was just there was a timing thing with what was going on socio-politically that he was concerned about. He just wants to sort of time it right. So it looks like it’s going to be another two years. But you know, what’s another two years once it’s been like, what 12? Hopefully we’re shooting in like two years time. Let’s see.”

Why District 10 Has Taken So Long To Arrive

Based on Copley’s previous comments and Blomkamp’s plan to take inspiration from American history, there’s a good chance that the main reason we have yet to see a District 9 sequel is simply bad timing. With all the political drama the U.S. has been dealing with over the last couple of years, doing a film based on historical racism in the country might not be the best idea. The South African director may have felt that it wasn’t a good time for someone with an outsider’s perspective to write and direct a film on a topic about which many people are very sensitive.

The other side of the coin could be that Blomkamp just isn’t interested in making the movie anymore (or at least right now). Talking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2023, Blomkamp was reported to have said, “I don’t know if it’s getting made or not. I don’t know if I even want to make that right now, but at some point down the line, it’ll probably get made.”

Even if fans are enthusiastic about the project and others are happy to work on it, if the director isn’t interested anymore, but the movie hinges on his involvement and style, what more is there for everyone to do? The inclusion of “some point down the line” means that the possibility hasn’t been ruled out. There is still a chance, so there is no reason for fans to lose hope, but there is no way of knowing when District 10 will eventually happen.

What We Hope To See In District 10

1. The Return of the Original Cast

At this point, we’re not entirely sure who will be coming back and who won’t. But there is one person who has to return to reprise his role: Sharlto Copley. Not only did he star in the first movie and Alive in Joburg, the short film on which District 9 was based, but he has been in many of Blomkamp’s previous films. For example, he co-starred alongside Matt Damon in Elysium and provided the movement of the titular robot in Chappie.

Given his involvement in Neill Blomkamp’s other works, how excited he’s been to do a sequel and the fact that he’s been credited as “co-writer”, it wouldn’t make sense if he didn’t reprise his role as Wikus van der Merwe in District 10.

Fans also hope we’ll see Jason Cope return as Christopher and Vanessa Hayward return as Wikus’ wife, Tania. Jason Cope did an excellent job as Christopher Johnson and Grey Bardnam. He also provided the voice of every alien that spoke and the man behind the camera several times throughout the film, specifically for Trent.

The number of familiar faces in the sequel film may be limited, especially since Neill Blomkamp has teased that District 10 will have a new plot rather than be a conventional continuation of where the movie left off. However, some of us hope the new faces will be more alien.

2. A Plot that was Just as Hard-Hitting as the First One

Neill Blomkamp has said that he was inspired by an unspecified period in American history for the story of District 10. This means that the dynamic between humans and aliens could be different, and we probably won’t see a repeat of humans ruling over alien-filled slums.

Fans suspect that the chosen historical era will be between the 17th and 19th centuries and that the film’s plot will be based on the treatment of Native Americans during that time.

3. An Explanation About Where the Aliens Are From

We learn very little about the Prawns’ home planet in District 9. All we know is that it has seven moons and is quite a bit bigger than Earth. Fans are curious to know why the aliens left their home planet in the first place.  It’d also be interesting to know they chose to take refuge on a planet that was so underdeveloped compared to their own. Some fans would also be curious to see why they were willing to accept the ill-treatment they were put through despite having weaponry that could easily demolish whatever the humans tried to throw at them.

While taking a trip to their home planet would diverge from the first film’s themes, it would be beneficial to learn more about the alien visitors.

4. New Characters and Species

Plans for a new plot mean there will undoubtedly be new characters with intriguing backgrounds. However, with Blomkamp’s plan to have a very minimal budget for the upcoming film, the cast will likely be as small as its predecessor. This means that if District 10 introduces new characters, the film will be able to explore their backgrounds a bit more in-depth.

The Elysium director might also choose to explore the idea of aliens a bit further and introduce new species. Humans have already discriminated against one alien species; what’s a couple more?

5. An Explanation About What Happened to Earth After Christopher Left

We learnt that the aliens had moved into District 10 and that their population had been growing at an alarming rate. This could potentially mean bad news for humanity in the District 9 sequel. The aliens are an advanced species with weaponry that only responds to their DNA. Moreover, they had been discriminated against and experimented on for years following their arrival on Earth, so they might not be inclined to be very forgiving in District 10. 

Fans are curious to see whether the prawns continued to accept the humans’ ill-treatment or if they had taken matters into their own hands and are now the dominant species on Earth. 

While many belated sequels have done terribly in the past, a few still manage to surpass expectations and do brilliantly. It will be a legacy sequel by the time Blomkamp’s future film releases in theatres. Fans just hope that he will be able to recapture the magic of the first one.

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What do you hope to see from Neill Blomkamp when District 10 is eventually released?