‘Trainspotting 2’ Is Officially Happening

Director Danny Boyle and the cast of Trainspotting have been talking up a sequel in the press for years, to the point where it started to feel more like wishful thinking than anything else. But recent updates on the project have been quite optimistic, which makes today’s news not all that surprising: Trainspotting 2 is officially happening with Boyle, Ewan McGregor and the rest of the original cast.

The Wrap reports that Boyle is heading to TriStar with Trainspotting 2, and he’s taking the original lineup with him. Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle are all returning to reprise their roles from Boyle’s 1996 classic, which was based on Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name.

Also returning is screenwriter John Hodge, who is scripting the untitled sequel based on Welsh’s own sequel novel, Porno, which was in turn inspired by Boyle’s adaptation of Trainspotting. You following? It’s unclear how closely Hodge will stick to Welsh’s source material, which takes place 10 years after the first story and finds the crew of former heroin junkies getting involved in the pornography business.

McGregor will return as lead character Renton, with Bremner, Miller and Carlyle reprising their roles as Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie, respectively. No word yet on a potential return from Kelly MacDonald’s Diane, who does have a small part in Porno.

If Trainspotting 2 hits theaters next year, it would arrive 20 years after the release of the original film.