17 Years Ago, Donnie Darko's First 'Sequel' Killed Its Franchise Hopes (Until Now)

Richard Kelly has plans for a new Donnie Darko story that will make S. Darko a distant memory. 

In 2001, Richard Kelly burst onto the scene with Donnie Darko. The film made an instant star out of its lead, Jake Gyllenhaal, and is often viewed as a modern classic. Set in October 1988, Donnie Darko sees the titular teen visited by a giant rabbit called Frank who claims that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. Featuring a time-travel centric story, some ‘80s nostalgia, and one of the best movie soundtracks in history, it is easy to see why Donnie Darko has built a cult following. It’s also easy to understand why the sequel, S. Darko was made. 

Unfortunately, the film was an unmitigated disaster and essentially killed any franchise potential. That may be set to change now, though, as Richard Kelly might have found a new way to explore the world he created. We break down everything we know, below. 

How Is Richard Kelly Continuing Donnie Darko? 

Richard Kelly hasn’t directed a movie since 2009’s The Box. The director has instead spent the last ten years hard at work on the novel The Philosophy of Time Travel, which is set for release in late 2026. Donnie Darko fans will recognise the title as the same as that of the in-universe book written by Roberta Sparrow. Kelly’s version, though, is reported to be a book sequel to the original film, and the first step in a wider plan to make several Donnie Darko sequels. 

Why The First Attempt To Follow Donnie Darko Was A Disaster

After the success of Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly was repeatedly approached to make a sequel, but he never felt that he had the right story. Eventually, the studios went on without him and created their own sequel, S. Darko.

Set seven years after the first film, across June and July of 1995, S. Darko followed the story of Donnie’s runaway little sister, Samantha. Her Sparkle Motion days long behind her, the teenager is still struggling with her brother’s strange death and she herself now suffers with strange dreams. As she and her friend Corey travel across America they stop at the desert town of Conejo Springs where reality begins to distort. Audiences immediately disowned S. Darko and the property has been floundering on a shelf ever since. 

Although original star, Daveigh Chase, reprised her role of Samantha Darko, there is little fun to be found. Several aspects of the story are just a rehash of the previous film, but are not pulled off with the same flair as Kelly, and the story is a headache-inducing mess. S. Darko is told from the perspective of the Manipulated Dead rather than the receiver, which causes all kinds of confusion. Donnie Darko being told from Donnie’s perspective was difficult enough to get your head around, let alone if it had decided to tell itself from Frank’s side.

What makes S. Darko so frustrating, however, is that there is possibly a good idea hiding somewhere within it. There are some cool desert-set visuals, and the scenes where it functions more on vibes are its stronger moments. For former millennial teens, S. Darko is worth enduring for the cast, which features Briana Evigan, James Lafferty, Jackson Rathbone, and Ed Westwick. Released in 2009, S. Darko could — like Kelly’s own Southland Tales — be looked back on in a few years as being ahead of its time, but for now it remains a case of style over substance.

What Is Richard Kelly’s Plan For the Next Donnie Darko Movies? 

Kelly’s forthcoming book will expand and explore the mythology set up in Donnie Darko and will take a deeper look at Tangent Universes, Living Receivers, and the Manipulated, hopefully doing a better job than S. Darko attempted. 

Variety have reported that Kelly intends to first adapt his book into an animated and motion-captured movie, before continuing the story in a live-action sequel set 28 years in the future.

Kelly told Variety: “This book starts off in the 14 months after Donnie’s death, and then there is much more narrative material that I’ve been developing where the time jumps 28 years into the future, and there’s a lot of really exciting stuff that happens starting around 2015/2016 and onward after that, so that’s where I started with the sequel.”

Kelly admits that his ideas are grand, but he is keen to repay those loyal fans of the original with a sequel worthy of their time and attention.