Steven Spielberg on the Challenging Battle to Stop a Sequel to Sci-Fi Classic E.T.

There could have been a sequel to E.T., but thankfully, Steven Spielberg, the acclaimed director, stood his ground to ensure it never saw the light of day.

It’s a well-known fact that sequels rarely live up to their predecessors. Occasionally, they do succeed, and in very rare cases, they surpass the original. However, more often than not, it’s best to let some films remain a singular masterpiece to spare us all from disappointment. E.T. is definitely one of those films that seems unimaginable with a sequel. Surprisingly, though, there was a time when some executives were considering continuing the story. Spielberg himself mentioned his efforts to stop an E.T. sequel during an event at the TCM Classic Film Festival: New York Pop-Up x 92NY, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

“Preventing a sequel for E.T. was a tough victory because, at that time, I didn’t have many rights,” Spielberg explained. “Before E.T., my rights were limited. I didn’t have what’s known as ‘the freeze,’ which allows you to halt the studio from making sequels, remakes, and other derivative uses of the intellectual property. It was only after E.T.’s success that I gained that control.” He further shared that a sequel was not something he wanted to pursue.

“I briefly toyed with the idea, just to see if any story came to mind,” Spielberg admitted. “The only concept I could come up with was inspired by a book called ‘The Green Planet,’ which was set entirely on E.T.’s home planet. The idea was to show E.T.’s living environment, but it seemed to work better as a novel rather than a film.”

In the grand scheme of things, avoiding an E.T. sequel might have saved us from cinematic disaster, so let’s be grateful Spielberg succeeded in his efforts. Besides, considering it was once the highest grossing film ever, I’m fairly certain it brought in more than enough revenue.