Dan Stevens Teases Onslaught, The Guest's Spiritual Sequel Fans Have Been Waiting For

So, Adam Wingard's The Guest has always been one of those cult favorites that has film nerds buzzing but didn’t exactly pack theaters back in 2014. Critics loved it, people at film festivals loved it, but your average cineplex crowd didn’t bite—probably because it’s a weird genre cocktail (sci-fi, action, thriller, a dash of dark comedy) and because Dan Stevens, despite his Downton Abbey fame, wasn’t exactly a big deal stateside yet. The result? It mostly played for a niche audience who seek out stuff that feels just a little off-kilter.

But here’s the thing: over the last decade, The Guest has only gotten more popular. Everyone involved—Stevens, Wingard, and co-star Maika Monroe—have all become more recognizable. The movie hit streaming, suddenly more people found out about it, and the 'Are we ever getting a sequel?' drumbeat got louder.

The Sequel Hype (With Some Pranks Along the Way)

Talk of a follow-up hasn’t exactly been subtle. Wingard even went so far as to release a fake soundtrack for a pretend sequel, The Guest 2, in 2022—because why not troll your own fans a little? Interviews with the cast and crew almost always include some variation of the 'Will you ever actually do another one?' question, so it’s squarely in the public imagination at this point.

Enter Onslaught (Which Is Not Technically a Sequel... But Kind Of Is?)

Now, with Stevens doing the press rounds for his new flick The Terror: Devil in Silver, he finally cleared the air (well…sort of) on what’s really happening. There’s a new Wingard movie called Onslaught, written by original The Guest screenwriter Simon Barrett, and starring Adria Arjona. Some fans had speculated this was a stealth sequel, but Stevens was straight with MovieWeb:

'I’m loving just continuing to collaborate with Adam and with Simon. We’ve got Onslaught coming out later this year with A24. Adria Arjona is the lead. It’s absolutely incredible. It’s Wingard back on home turf. Batsh*t action thriller in the desert. It’s not a sequel to The Guest, but it is very much, if you liked The Guest, you’re probably going to like Onslaught. And it’s very much in the same universe of super soldiers gone bad and that kind of thing, which we love.'

Translation: No, it’s not a direct sequel, but if you like evil science experiments and people punching each other in stylish ways, this is clearly being aimed right at you.

Why All the Sequel Talk, Anyway?

Part of what made The Guest take on this afterlife is its ending: it basically tees up the idea that Dan Stevens’s character David could keep wreaking havoc. So fans have wanted to see more. But Stevens himself isn’t totally sure that revisiting this world is the best move, making a pretty honest point about setting expectations:

'I’ve been enjoying the April Fool’s tradition that we’ve had with it over the last few years… Adam commissioned an entire album for The Guest 2 from his favorite musicians, some of whom played on the first album. He and Simon have written a whole treatment of what a sequel might look like. Some of that is hinted at on the cover of the album for The Guest 2. It’s great. If we ever get to make it, awesome. I think it will inevitably be better in everyone’s imaginations than if it were to actually happen.'

Honestly, hard to argue with him. Sometimes the best sequels are the ones just rattling around in your own head, not the one that gets dragged out a decade after the fact (looking at you, half the horror reboots of the last 20 years).

So, What’s Next for This Crew?

• Dan Stevens and Adam Wingard just worked together again on Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
• Stevens will be back for the next Godzilla x Kong movie (Supernova), but Wingard is sitting this one out—that director’s chair is now Grant Sputore’s problem.
• Onslaught doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s coming from A24 later this year. Don’t expect a direct Guest connection—just some spiritual overlap.
• If you need your Dan Stevens fix now, catch The Terror: Devil in Silver when it drops on AMC+ and Shudder on May 7.

To sum up? The Guest sequel is still just wishful thinking (with a side of elaborate April Fools pranks), but you’re getting something in the same vein soon enough. Good luck convincing diehards that the universe is complete without a real sequel, but at least we know the people involved are still having fun messing with everybody.