If you weren't aware that Fight Club is getting a sequel — surprise! The original 1996 book by Chuck Palahniuk, which inspired the 1999 film of the same name starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, is getting a sequel in graphic novel form that will take place ten years after the events of the book and revisit the nameless narrator as he experiences a resurgence of Tyler Durden within his psyche. The news was originally announced by Palahniuk at San Diego Comic-Con last year, and now, we finally have a little more information about what to expect in the project: In a new interview with USA Today, Chuck Palahkiuk revealed major details about the Fight Club sequel, and dished on what we should expect from the project.
Apparently, ten years after the events of the book, our nameless narrator is married to Marla (portrayed by Helena Bonham-Carter in the film) and the two have a nine-year-old son together. Unfortunately, their plans to be a happy little family are turned upside down when the narrator, unhappy with his life, begins to see Tyler return, and his child ends up in danger as a result. Apparently, this leads to a revisit of Project Mayhem and the original Fight Club, but things aren't the same as before. "He tries to go back and reclaim that phase of his life, and is just a pathetic failure...He’s not that person anymore," Palahniuk explained. "But beyond that, it’s what the organization has grown into in his absence and what he’s pulled back into."
So far, I can roll with this. It doesn't sound too out of the box yet, and considering everything the book dealt with — the narrator's unstable psychological state, and his disappointment with his life being the reason he created the alternate personality of Tyler — it seems believable. Then, though...Palahniuk said this, of the idea of Tyler Durden: "Tyler is something that maybe has been around for centuries and is not just this aberration that’s popped into his mind."
Aaand now you lost me. I will admit that Palahniuk isn't clear enough on this sentence for me to totally write off this project just yet, but to me, "been around for centuries" and "not just this aberration that's popped into [the narrator's] mind" kind of means Palahniuk is intending to change the whole story from a look at the psychology of someone in a dissociated state to a supernatural sort of tale. For me, and many other fans of the psychological horror genre Fight Club dominates so well, flipping the story like that would ruin everything.
As for why Palahniuk decided to revisit the project, he also explained that thought process to USA Today. Apparently, he got to thinking about it when he began considering middle-age life. "You’re still not really happy but for different reasons. Also the idea that if you suppress that wild, creative part of you — that Tyler part of you — do you lose the best part of you? Sure, your life is more stable and safe, but is it a better life?"
Ugh. Please don't mess this up.
Image: 20th Century Fox
