Is Netflix really making an ‘Uglies’ sequel?

Uglies has officially hit Netflix, and it’s high time that we never let Netflix anywhere near sci-fi or young adult fiction adaptations ever again.

Indeed, from beginning to end, Uglies does not have so much as a pinky on the pulse of even halfway-competent storytelling, gouging our attention spans with exposition about a world that we don’t care about before plunging into the painfully contrived plight of Tally Youngblood. It’s the disgustingly perfect amalgam of ingredients shoved into a content machine: a complete misunderstanding about what made the source material work? Check. Characters for whom “plot device” would be a generous label? Check. A hard commitment to tame anti-nuance despite a premise that demands otherwise? Check.

With all of this considered, there can of course only be one thing on the mind of anyone who’s watching: could Uglies, this ugly thing, get a sequel?

Is Netflix making a sequel to Uglies?

Well, Uglies has barely had any time to justify its existence even to the Netflix suits, so it’s hard to say at this point whether or not a sequel is in the cards.

Here’s what we do know, however: Uglies is, of course, the first in a series of young adult sci-fi novels written by Scott Westerfeld, followed by Pretties, Specials, and Extras. The series is still ongoing as of February 2018, when four new novels were announced by the author, with the first one, Imposters, releasing in September of that same year.

In other words, there’s still a lot to adapt in the world of Uglies, and given how the film stayed true to the novel’s cliffhanger ending while vomiting up some of the tackiest worldbuilding in recent cinematic memory, it’s no great assumption to think that a sequel was in fact part of Netflix’s plan. Uglies, you see, was just the setup.

Of course, Netflix won’t pull the trigger on the next Uglies film if this one doesn’t end up doing the proper numbers. However, it’s currently lurking within the top three most-viewed films on Netflix at the time of writing, so we all need to start hunkering down and avoiding this movie at all costs.

Because, folks, we don’t need to get our dystopia fixings from a movie like Uglies; we’ve got one right here in the real world, where great stories are stripped down into lifeless, market-driven husks and fed to us in place of the bold art that it could have been. Hold the line, disrupt Netflix’s plans, and demand accountability. We’re all counting on you.