With Danny Boyle’s T2: Trainspotting arriving in theatres in February, chatter around the series has picked up significantly. After all, the most recent trailer for the film has us feeling optimistic and from what we’re hearing, it seems that the upcoming sequel may not be the end of Renton (Ewan McGregor), Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle).
Author Irvine Welsh, who wrote the original novel that Boyle’s 1996 film was based on, has revealed that we could one day see a TV show featuring the gang. Even though Welsh has written several new books about the characters over the years, he says he still has more stories to tell and that the best medium for them could be television.
Basically, I’ve plans for all the characters. All in various kind of schedules or adaptations. It’s all ruling on cable TV, cable TV has some interesting developments. We’re working on all these different kind of things. I think now anybody who’s in the book, whether the like it or not, they’re working on the way of being in the film. You keep that in mind. As soon as you’ve written it, you’re thinking about how it can move into different mediums.
Welsh also touched on Boyle’s sequel, saying that it’s going to “cement that status” of the characters even more.
We were all nervous before we decided to do it… [but] once we saw the script, everybody was confident that we were certainly not going to trash the legacy of the first film and that we were going to build on it. It has managed to take the most dynamic elements of the [Trainspotting] book and [the sequel] Porno but also look forward to how it can be contemporary and present day… In some ways, I think it’s a better movie [than Trainspotting]… They have become such iconic characters and this is going to cement that status even more.
Obviously, much of what Welsh can and will do next depends on how T2: Trainspotting performs at the box office. As awesome as the original was, it’s been one hell of a long time since it hit theatres and who knows if there’s much interest left in these characters. Again, the sequel does look promising so far, but the numbers will speak for themselves once the film releases early next year.
Until that happens, tell us, would you be interested in seeing a Trainspotting TV series, or do you not care enough for Renton, Sick Boy and co.?
