WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Adam Project, now available on Netflix.
In Netflix’s The Adam Project, one of the most intriguing aspects is how the film erases the very anchor it’s based on: time travel. Adam (Ryan Reynolds), his younger self (Walker Scobell) and their dad, Louis (Mark Ruffalo) extinguished the time-travel data needed in 2018 to create wormholes in the future, thus returning the guys to their timeline and allowing Louis to live his life out without knowing how he died prior to 2022.
However, while the movie capped the emotional journey by having Young Adam accepting the death and Big Adam processing it and finding his beloved, Laura, at flight academy, it does set up an intriguing sequel with a premise based on hope and family.
Now, this film, as bonkers and fun as it was jumping across timelines, excelled most in its sentimental moments rather than bombastic sci-fi ones. The core dramas with the Adams wanting to prevent Louis from dying, Ellie (their mom) grieving over Louis, and Big Adam hoping that fixing the timestream wouldn’t take Laura away, all added heart to the story.
A sequel can follow this emotive thread and focus on what happened to Louis. When they destroyed time travel in 2018, the sons’ memories reconciled and they remembered bits and pieces of promises made. Young Adam hugged Ellie and loved her more, while Big Adam waited to meet Laura at school, but it’s uncertain how the memories affected Louis. He was in his fixed time, after all, so it may be he — like his sons — just acted on faith.
He didn’t want them telling him how he died, all so he could avoid paradoxes and butterfly effects. Instead, his main aim was giving them closure and telling them they’d move on just fine without him and grow up to be good people. This creates room for a comedy-drama with Louis wondering how and if he’d die. The movie did reveal he died in a new timeline, but it wasn’t stated if it was the car accident as before, so there’s room to play an unpredictable guessing game, poking fun at Final Destination given we know the eventual outcome.
A sequel would mix comedy with a heartbreaking tone because Young Adam and Ellie from 2018 would totally be in the dark on a conscious level. Still, fans will surely enjoy Louis spending less time at the office and more time with his family. He could even try to stop someone similar to his evil business partner, Maya, from recreating the time-traveling formula and particle accelerator, thereby giving him his own heroic journey with his loved ones possibly helping out.
As such, what was once a self-contained story can evolve into a fun chapter where Louis has to sacrifice himself, like Laura did in 2022, to ensure his work doesn’t come back to life and protect the uncorrupted timeline they worked so hard to wrest from the clutches of the evil Maya. It’d be a rollicking time-travel story without really having time travel, giving him and Ellie their romantic due, while also inspiring Adam to be the virtuous, hopeful romantic Big Adam ended up being at the academy.
To see how Louis’ journey can continue, check out The Adam Project, now streaming on Netflix.
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