After Escape From LA, Kurt Russell’s Never-Made Sequel is 1 of Hollywood’s Greatest “What If…” Movies

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Throughout his 60-year career, he’s generally avoided making sequels – a common practice in Hollywood. He’s only revisited a role twice: first as Santa Claus in The Christmas Chronicles 2 on Netflix, and again when he reprised his role as Snake Plissken, wearing the famous eye-patch, in Escape From L.A. in 1996, much to the joy of a generation of film fans.

Let me tell you, Kurt Russell was Snake Plissken, and he really had to be convinced to revisit that iconic, cynical role after all those years. It’s fascinating to learn that John Carpenter actually used the promise of co-writing the script for L.A. Confidential—sorry, L.A.—as leverage to get him on board. Russell’s dedication was key; it ultimately helped convince Paramount to actually make the sequel. But here’s the really interesting part: a third Snake Plissken film was seriously considered! While it never happened, bits and pieces of the proposed story have leaked over time, and honestly, it remains one of the biggest ‘what could have been’ projects in Hollywood history. It’s a real shame, because I think audiences would have loved it.

Escape From New York Introduced the World To a Beloved Cult Icon

I remember back in the early 80s, John Carpenter was a really exciting director. He’d just made this incredibly successful, low-budget horror film in 1978, and everyone was talking about him. Then came The Fog in 1980, which did pretty well too. What I didn’t know at the time was that he also did some TV movies in between, including a biopic about Elvis. It starred a relatively unknown actor playing the King, which was interesting to see!

Kurt Russell really stood out to director John Carpenter, and when Carpenter began casting for his biggest film yet – a sci-fi action movie set after a disaster – he insisted Russell was perfect for the lead role. The people funding the movie didn’t agree at first, but Carpenter was firm and ultimately got his way.

Looking back, Carpenter clearly made the right decision. Kurt Russell created a truly memorable action hero with Snake Plissken. His quiet, cynical style, combined with the eyepatch, cobra tattoo, and long hair, fit the dark, over-the-top feel of Escape From New York perfectly. While Russell mostly changed his voice for the role, and Plissken’s tough exterior sometimes comes across as intentionally humorous, that’s exactly what the film needed in a hero.

Even though it was a low-budget film, it looked surprisingly polished, and the director had a clear vision. Looking back after 45 years, the suggestions of actors like Charles Bronson, Tommy Lee Jones, or Chuck Norris for the role of Plissken seem off – Kurt Russell was born to play Snake Plissken, and no one else could have done it.

That Icon Returned in Escape From L.A. To a Mixed Reception

The film was immediately popular with both viewers and critics, who praised its detailed world, exciting action sequences, and insightful social themes. The plot centers on Snake Plissken, an ex-soldier and criminal, who is offered a pardon if he can rescue the President’s daughter from Manhattan Island within 24 hours. The catch? Manhattan has been transformed into an inescapable maximum-security prison for the nation’s worst criminals after World War III, and it’s been that way for nine years.

Although this fascinating look at Carpenter’s imagined future felt incomplete, he and Kurt Russell later discussed making a sequel. Carpenter was hesitant, though, because he disliked the Halloween sequels he hadn’t directed, feeling he’d been forced into writing those after the first film.

In 1994, Russell finally found a way to get the project moving for Carpenter. At the time, he was living in Los Angeles, a city reeling from a series of disasters: the Northridge earthquake, floods, wildfires, a surge in crime, the Rodney King riots, and a widespread loss of faith in the police and other organizations. He proposed a sequel to Carpenter, envisioning a future Los Angeles even more chaotic than before – a city isolated from the rest of the U.S. by a massive earthquake and transformed into a new kind of prison.

The President, a religious leader, now seeks to disable all electronics globally with a powerful weapon called the “Sword of Damocles.” However, his daughter, worried about its destructive potential, steals the weapon’s control and flees to Los Angeles. Snake Plissken is given a new, urgent mission: find her and recover the control, but with a deadly twist – he’s been poisoned and has only ten hours to succeed, or he’ll die.

Despite being a sequel to a popular film, Escape From L.A. didn’t perform well in theaters, largely due to its high $50 million production cost. Many viewers and critics thought the movie was too over-the-top and relied on noticeably bad computer effects for the time. A particularly infamous scene—Plissken surfing a tsunami through Los Angeles—was often seen as the point where the film became ridiculous. However, over time, the movie has gained a following among those who appreciate its playful and ironic style. One thing everyone agrees on is the film’s surprisingly unexpected ending, which hinted at a possible third installment featuring the character Plissken.

Escape From Earth Would Have Sent Snake Plissken to Space

At the end of Escape From L.A., Snake Plissken does something no typical action hero would: he embraces a complete reset for humanity. Tired of constant conflict and believing people are determined to ruin everything, the cynical Plissken activates the Sword of Damocles—the weapon everyone was trying to keep out of the President’s hands. This device shuts down all technology worldwide, throwing humanity back into a new Dark Age. Plissken simply lights a cigarette, flicks the match out, and dryly says, “Welcome to the human race.” It’s a surprisingly bold and thought-provoking conclusion to a generally lighthearted movie, leaving viewers to wonder what could happen next.

The ending of Escape From L.A. wasn’t the only potential continuation of the story. Back in 1998, John Carpenter actually wrote a script for a third film, Escape From Earth, which imagined the technology-free planet becoming a battleground. Unfortunately, he couldn’t convince a studio to fund the project, and it was shelved. For years, little was known about the plot, though Kurt Russell did mention the title and said it was the only sequel he’d consider. Over time, Russell and Carpenter had different ideas about an aging Plissken, with Russell stating he didn’t want to play an older version of the character, while Carpenter thought it could be enjoyable.

In 2022, John Carpenter shared some exciting details about a potential sequel, Escape from Earth, and the internet went wild. He described it as being similar to Escape from New York, but with Snake Plissken traveling through space. Fans immediately imagined their favorite antihero in a sci-fi setting. However, true to form, Carpenter quickly tempered expectations, noting it would rely heavily on special effects – something he isn’t particularly interested in. As of 2026, with no progress seemingly underway, it appears Escape from Earth will likely remain just a dream. Still, many fans continue to hope that John Carpenter and Kurt Russell will one day make it happen!

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2026-04-16 06:44