In news that will hopefully seem less ill-timed and gross as we put more days between ourselves and the recent death of David Bowie, The Jim Henson Company has just signed a deal with Tri-Star for a new Labyrinth film. Details about the project are being kept under wraps, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, Guardians Of The Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman has been brought on to pen the script.
We’ve been faked out by rumors about a new Labyrinth before, as it’s apparently a pretty common topic of discussion at high-level Henson Company meetings. But if the Reporter is right, it looks like the sequel or reboot or whatever this turns out to be has officially been put in some kind of development, with a we-guess-you-could-call “convenient” timing that it would probably be less upsetting to just ignore.
The final movie directed by Jim Henson, the original Labyrinth is a landmark of ’80s fantasy, introducing numerous kids to the dark wonders of evil puppets and David Bowie’s genitals. But now, that iconic penis is dead, a fact that makes the idea of revisiting the Goblin King Jareth’s world feel just a little too somber to celebrate right now.