Could Gone Girl 2 happen, 10 years later?

The ending of David Fincher's psychological thriller Gone Girl is a delightfully dark surprise. After more than two hours spent immersed in the manipulative murk of a very dysfunctional marriage, the final moments hit like a hammer. There are, of course, spoilers ahead.

In the final act of the movie, Amy (Rosamund Pike) returns from her apparent kidnapping — she had actually attempted to frame her husband Nick (Ben Affleck) for her murder. Her attraction to him has seemingly returned and she has pinned the blame for her abduction on her ex (Neil Patrick Harris), just before cutting his throat.

Nick prepares to expose Amy's crimes, but is blindsided with the revelation that she has inseminated herself with his sperm at a clinic and is expecting his child. The movie ends with the couple performing happiness to the public, while their actual life is anything but harmonious.

It doesn't sound like perfect fodder for a sequel — especially as there's just one novel by Gillian Flynn to adapt — but actually the topic has been on the cards since the film's original release 10 years ago.

Pike is theoretically up for the idea, on one condition. She told Variety in the wake of the October 2014 release that she might consider returning to the role of Amy, but "only if Gillian wrote it". She added: "I don’t like the idea of someone coming in and saying 'I could get my hand on these characters'."

Read more: Why Ben Affleck Refused To Wear A Certain Cap For Gone Girl (Yahoo Entertainment)

Well, there's good news on that front because, a few months later, Flynn herself told the New York Daily News (via Telegraph) that she's open to the idea as long as "the exact same people" are involved. For Flynn, that means Pike, Affleck and Fincher behind the camera.

She said: "There could be a sequel at some point if everyone is game to get the gang back together, it could be really fun a few years from now, We could pick it up and see what those crazy Dunnes are up to a few years down the road and if they got on – not well, I don't think."

Well, a decade certainly counts as "a few years down the road", doesn't it? In fact, Flynn went even further in a 2022 interview with People to mark the 10th anniversary of the original book.

She said she thought "it'd be fun to play in real time" with the idea of Amy and Nick's baby, born a decade ago. "I would say I'm a little more sure than never-say-never [about writing a sequel]. I think I would be surprised if I didn't, to be honest. But don't hold me to it," she said.

Read more: Carrie Coon hates watching Gone Girl back (BANG Showbiz)

So Flynn is almost certainly on board to do her bit with a source novel and, provided the key creative trio remain in place, she's keen for it to hit the big screen as well as bookshops. But does that mean anybody wants a sequel?

Well, the box office certainly suggests it was a hit last time around. The film made a very impressive $371m (£283m) worldwide, becoming one of the most profitable movies of 2014. Critics loved it too and the Academy handed Pike an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, though the film was unforgivably snubbed in other categories.

But narratively, a sequel also stacks up. The climactic revelation of Amy's pregnancy provides the perfect hook for a follow-up, as Flynn pointed out in her 2022 interview. While the narrative arc of Amy's "disappearance" was resolved in Gone Girl, the character arc between the warring couple was anything but over. The addition of a child into that mix would add a whole new dimension to the story.

Gone Girl 2 would have to be a very different proposition to its predecessor. While that story focused on the plot mechanics of Amy going missing, a sequel would have to be far more character-based. It would be more about interpersonal relationships than a big, over-arching mystery.

Read more: Jon Hamm was supposed to star in Gone Girl (BANG Showbiz)

That's potentially very fertile ground for Flynn to explore on the page and for Affleck and Pike to delve into with their performances. Both actors have gone from strength to strength in the years since Gone Girl, so their presence could definitely get bums on seats at the multiplex.

It's also true that the movie's themes of gender politics have only become more fascinating in the years since it first hit cinema screens. There was a lot of discussion about whether the film was feminist or misogynist, with Flynn's knotty story and complex protagonist beguiling audiences on both page and screen. Since then, the #MeToo movement has fired up and we've had another decade of examining relationships between men and women.

A version of Gone Girl 2 written in this era couldn't fail to be interesting. As long as Flynn can find a compelling story angle, only a fool would bet against the Dunne family appearing on the big screen one more time. We're all ready to be shocked by them once again.

Gone Girl is streaming in the UK on Disney+.