Kane Parsons has a preferred way to finish the “Backrooms” story, and it is not another feature film. The 21-year-old director said a limited series would be his “dream scenario” for reaching the saga’s “main ending.” He spoke at Deadline’s Zurich Summit studio this weekend, weeks after his debut feature became a summer hit. Parsons said the plan has existed since the beginning and described a “very set arc” he is excited to see through. He declined to give specifics, saying only that he has projects he hopes to discuss soon.
The comments are a wish, not a plan. No series, cast or timetable has been announced. A24 has separately put “Backrooms 2” in motion with Parsons directing, so the next installment appears headed to theaters.
The franchise grew from the internet’s own folklore. Parsons posted his first found-footage short on YouTube in 2022 at age 16, working under the name Kane Pixels and building the visuals in Blender. The videos imagined a world of endless, empty yellow rooms that people reach by slipping out of reality. He made 23 more shorts before stopping in 2025. A24 approached him about a feature while the web series was still running.
The film, written by Will Soodik and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, made Parsons the youngest director to debut at number one at the domestic and global box office. He said he never tracked projections but expected the online community to turn out. The audience that followed surprised him, he said, because it stretched well beyond that base.
Its success has drawn Hollywood toward similar material. Adaptations of internet horror properties including “Jeff the Killer,” “Cartoon Cat” and “The Mandela Catalogue” are now in development.
Some observers see tension between the two formats. One entertainment outlet argued that a limited series would suit the story better than a sequel but warned that the ideal outcome may prove out of reach. If “Backrooms 2” performs as well as the original, studio logic favors more films. The film’s ending also makes it unlikely that a series would follow either of its leads.
Parsons has not said which path he will take. For now, he is making the sequel.
