Almost 30 years after the second entry, I still hope that John Carpenter and Kurt Russell will reunite to close out their Snake Plissken trilogy with Escape from Earth. A look at John Carpenter’s movie filmography reveals that the famed writer/director/composer tends to avoid sequels like his life depended on it. He was essentially forced to make 1981’s Halloween 2 (which he wrote and produced but refused to direct) while Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy is connected by themes instead of characters. The only sequel he did direct was Escape from L.A.
Despite being a fan of Carpenter’s work, I have to admit this 1996 sequel is one of my least favorite. Despite being the fifth and final John Carpenter and Kurt Russell collaboration, Escape from L.A. is plagued by poor CGI and tacky humor. Russell’s Snake Plissken is still a great character, but since the follow-up is essentially a remake of the original, there are few surprises. Still, the sequel ends on a strong note, which set up the unmade third movie Escape from Earth, where Plissken has to do exactly that after the planet’s technology is wiped out.
Why John Carpenter & Kurt Russell’s Escape From Earth Hasn’t Happened
Blame Escape from L.A. for the lack of new Snake Plissken movie
Escape from New York is one of my favorite action-adventure movies. Despite being sH๏τ on a modest budget, it still looks great, is populated by cool characters and is dripping with atmosphere and tension. The movie also has one of the all-time great premises, but despite there being demand for a sequel shortly after it arrived, Russell and Carpenter moved on to new projects like Big Trouble in Little China. It was Russell who pushed to make a sequel happen since he loved Plissken so much and wanted to reprise the part before he got too old.
Russell was a full-blown movie star when Escape from L.A. was released, but despite this, the sequel was a box-office dud. It only grossed $25 million, about half its production budget (via The Numbers), and reviews were intensely mixed (it stands at 54% on Rotten Tomatoes). The movie has amᴀssed a cult over the years, though, while Carpenter has always maintained his belief that L.A. is even better than Escape from New York. For obvious reasons, plans for a third movie dubbed Escape from Earth were immediately shelved.
… the Escape from saga has been dormant since 1996, outside of a few comics.
Details for this third Snake Plissken adventure have always been vague, though Carpenter told Fandom in 2022 that the third film’s basic setup was “… kind of Snake Plissken in a space capsule, flying interstellar.” In the decades since, there have been multiple plans for an Escape from New York remake, alongside a canceled video game and anime. Essentially, the Escape from… saga has been dormant since 1996, outside of a few comics.
Going Into Space Would’ve Worked For The Over-The-Top “Escape” Franchise
Snake Plissken in Space sells itself
There are plenty of John Carpenter sci-fi movies (The Thing, Starman, etc), but the only time the filmmaker left Earth (in a movie, that is) was for Ghosts of Mars. This 2001 action-horror was another bomb, and Carpenter semi-retired in the aftermath. Despite Escape from New York being viewed as a serious, dystopian adventure, it has its share of over-the-top action and humor. Escape from L.A. is a more colorful, goofier movie, and while it doesn’t fully work for me, it does have some great sequences.
Going to outer space sounds like a shark jump on paper, but the Snake Plissken movies are designed as larger than life adventures. The sequel succeeded in upping the scale from the original, so it makes sense for the trilogy capper to be the biggest of all. Considering that Snake himself shut down the Earth in the finale of the 1996 sequel, escaping the chaos and heading for the stars doesn’t sound like a bad call.
John Carpenter’s Ghosts Of Mars Shows What Escape From Earth Might Look Like
No, Ghosts of Mars was never intended as a Snake Plissken sequel
Despite rumors that the screenplay was reworked following Escape from L.A.’s failure, Ghosts of Mars was never designed as a Snake Plissken movie. These rumors likely cropped up due to Ice Cube’s lead character in the 2001 movie being suspiciously Snake-like, but those are the only links between them. Even if it didn’t start life as a sequel, Carpenter’s martian odyssey hints at what Escape from Earth could have been.
It’s arguably Carpenter’s most action-packed movie (or at least I think so), with the film featuring numerous shootouts and fistfights. Despite its sci-fi trappings, Carpenter keeps things relatively grounded as possible. Ghosts of Mars has no spaceships or laser guns, and it more so resembles a Western than a sci-fi monster movie. The relationship between Cube’s Williams and Natasha Henstridge’s Ballard feels like a dynamic that a Snake Plissken adventure could have benefited from, with the one-eyed outlaw being forced to work with his equal.
Ghosts of Mars itself is a fusion of Carpenter’s favorite Western Rio Bravo and its unofficial sequel, El Dorado, so Escape from Earth might have burrowed a similiar Western vibe. Unfortunately, Ghosts of Mars is quite chintzy-looking looking too, and Cube himself refused to promote the movie because he felt it looked too cheap. It would be interesting to imagine how Ghosts of Mars would work with Russell’s Snake Plissken at its center, but it wasn’t meant to be.
John Carpenter Is Still Open To Making Escape From Earth
I’d love one last John Carpenter and Kurt Russell movie
Escape from L.A. may have been a disappointment, but Carpenter and Russell are still my favorite director/actor duo. In their prime, they were running off classics like The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China, and they have remained friends since; Russell even spoke at Carpenter’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in April 2025. With each year that pᴀsses, I’m resigned to the idea that the two will never collaborate again. That said, despite being all but retired, Carpenter hasn’t ruled out Escape from Earth, telling Den of Geek in 2022.
You never know. I learned never to say never in the business. I don’t think so, but I don’t know.
Carpenter has been linked to many projects since his last movie, 2010’s The Ward, but none have come together. He now has a second career as a musician, making his own music or scoring for other filmmakers, including David Gordon Green’s Halloween legacy sequels. I’m glad the Escape from New York remake isn’t happening too, as the reboot’s failure to come together might convince the rights holders that a legacy sequel with Russell as Snake is the right move.
Kurt Russell made Snake Plissken’s seemingly impossible full-court basketball sH๏τ in Escape from L.A. by himself, without the aid of visual effects.
Since Russell has said he would never play Snake without John Carpenter, that makes him literally the only director suitable for Escape from Earth. In all likelihood, it won’t happen – as much as I want it to. It always felt like there were more Snake stories to tell, but Escape from L.A.’s reception just poured cold water on those plans. Still, Snake Plissken has escaped from impossible situations before, so he could always break out of development hell someday and mount a big comeback.
Source: The Numbers, Rotten Tomatoes, Fandom, Den of Geek
