Steven Spielberg recently discussed why he didn’t want to make a sequel to his iconic movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The story of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial follows Elliot, a young boy who becomes friends with an alien stranded on Earth. Throughout the movie, Elliot and his friends help E.T. find a way home. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is often regarded as one of Steven Spielberg’s best movies and has an extremely impressive score of 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. The cast of E.T. includes Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, and Drew Barrymore.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Spielberg appeared at the TCM Classic Film Festival: New York Pop-Up  x  92NY event on January 25, 2025 and spoke with Barrymore about why he didn’t want to make a sequel to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. He explained that he didn’t have the rights to E.T. so he couldn’t prevent a sequel from being made. He even admitted he explored the idea of an E.T. sequel for a little bit, but ultimately decided it wouldn’t work. Therefore, Spielberg had to fight to not make a sequel to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Read Spielberg’s full comments below:

That was a real hard-fought victory because I didn’t have any rights. Before E.T., I had some rights, but I didn’t have a lot of rights. I kind of didn’t have what we call ‘the freeze,’ where you can stop the studio from making a sequel because you control the freeze on sequels, remakes and other ancillary uses of the IP. I didn’t have that. I got it after E.T. because of its success.

I just did not want to make a sequel. I flirted with it for a little bit — just a little bit to see if I [could] think of a story — and the only thing I could think about was a book that was written by somebody that wrote the book for it called The Green Planet, which was all going to take place at E.T.’s home. We were all going to be able to go to E.T.’s home and see how E.T. lived. But it was better as a novel than I think it would have been as a film.

A Sequel To E.T. Was Briefly In Development

E.T.’s Sequel Would Have Been Much Darker

Upon its release, E.T. was a massive success and even became the highest-grossing movie of all time before being dethroned by another Spielberg film, 1993’s Jurassic Park. Therefore, it is understandable why Universal Pictures, who distributed E.T., would want a sequel. At one point, a sequel to E.T. was actually in development and Spielberg was working on a script with writer Melissa Matheson, who wrote the first movie.

The sequel would have been much darker than the original movie and would have featured several evil aliens.

The sequel even had the working title of E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears. Reportedly, the sequel would have been much darker than the original movie and would have featured several evil aliens. These aliens would have come to Earth and kidnapped Elliot and his friends, who would’ve tried to contact E.T. to come and save them. However, as Spielberg states in the above comments, the director ultimately knew that a sequel to E.T. didn’t need to be made.

Spielberg has made a few sequels throughout his career, such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Lost World: Jurassic Park. However, he has mostly avoided making sequels to his most iconic movies. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial remains one of Spielberg’s best movies. The ending of E.T. is perfect and doesn’t require a continuation. Therefore, Spielberg was right not to make a sequel to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Release Date

June 11, 1982

Runtime

1h 55m

Writers

Melissa Mathison

Franchise(s)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial