It’s been over five years, and Ready Player One seems no closer to getting a sequel, and this could be because the many changes made to the book have made this far more complicated to pull off. Author Ernest Cline wrote a book sequel called Ready Player Two, which was released a couple of years after the 2018 movie hit theaters. It’s certainly possible that a version of this novel will be turned into a movie sequel for Ready Player One, but significant adjustments would have to be made to the story since Steven Spielberg’s movie changes don’t fit with the plot.
Though the general premise of the Ready Player One book and movie are the same, Spielberg took several creative liberties with Wade’s story. The nature of James Halliday’s contest, the final lessons learned by the characters, and the central romance between Wade and Samantha were quite different. In all, these changes were tasteful and more or less acceptable, but once Cline’s Ready Player Two book was released in 2020, it was clear that this sequel wasn’t made with the movie in mind. Ultimately, this makes adapting the book to film (as is) impossible.
Ready Player Two: Is The Sequel Happening? Everything We Know
Will Ready Player Two ever happen? Ready Player One was a hit with viewers, but the poorly reviewed sequel book by Ernest Cline raised some eyebrows.
8 Wade & Samantha Don’t Meet Until The Very End Of The Ready Player One Book
Wade and Samantha established a far more personal relationship early in the Ready Player One movie.
Wade and Samantha (Olivia Cooke’s Ready Player One character) met in person about halfway through the Ready Player One movie, but this wasn’t the case in the book. The pair had a far more tumultuous relationship throughout the novel. Ultimately, it wasn’t until after the Easter Egg was claimed that Wade and Samantha met, and the future of their relationship was left more ambiguous. Since Ready Player Two picks up with the reveal that Wade almost immediately ruined this romance, the movie’s version of their ending wouldn’t fit.
7 Wade Doesn’t Learn About The Importance Of Real Life Until Ready Player Two
The Ready Player One movie was all about Wade learning the value of reality.
Wade does a lot of growing and learning in Ready Player Two since this is when he realizes the value of living in the real world. At the start of the book, his OASIS addiction becomes even more severe after he discovers that Halliday had invented the OASIS Neural Interface, or ONI, which allows a person to slip on a special headset and be immersed in perfect virtual reality. He gets so hooked on this technology that it destroys all his friendships. It’s a significant factor in the sequel plot that wouldn’t work after the changes to the Ready Player One movie.
6 The Ready Player One Movie Improved On The Book’s VR Technology
VR technology wasn’t perfect until the Ready Player Two book.
As previously mentioned, Ready Player Two kicks off with the reveal that Halliday had secretly invented the most advanced virtual reality technology the world had ever seen. The headset directly accessed the brain, so rather than projecting an image onto the eyes, the person wearing the OASIS Neural Interface could seamlessly touch, taste, and smell their surroundings, and it would all feel just as real as reality. However, the Ready Player One movie already made the OASIS far more immersive than it had been in the original book, so this wouldn’t be as significant a reveal.
5 The OASIS Doesn’t Get Shut Down On Tuesdays & Thursday In The Book
Wade’s decision to partially close the OASIS in the Ready Player One movie contradicts his lessons in the sequel.
At the end of the Ready Player One movie, Wade and the rest of the High Five choose to shut down the OASIS on Tuesdays and Thursdays to ensure that people spend some time in the real world. This reinforces the lessons Wade learned about the importance of reality, but it never happened in the book. Ready Player Two revealed that, like Wade, society became even more hooked to escaping reality thanks to the ONI. This leads to nearly everyone getting trapped in the virtual world, which can’t happen in a movie sequel if Wade shuts down the OASIS two days a week.
4 Daito Dies In The Ready Player One Book (But Survives In The Movie)
Ready Player One & its sequel were more mature than Speilberg’s movie.
The Ready Player One movie was far more lighthearted than the book. A perfect example is the fact that in Cline’s version of the story, Daito is brutally murdered by Nolan Sorrento and IOI—something that certainly didn’t happen in Spielberg’s movie. Of course, it would be easy enough for this character to be written into a movie sequel, but since Ready Player Two‘s themes are even darker than the first book, it isn’t easy to imagine how this tone could be adjusted for a movie adaptation. If Spielberg couldn’t stomach killing off Daito, then the rest of Ready Player Two would be a no-go.
3 Halliday Is Made Far More Sagely In The Ready Player One Movie
Halliday’s movie character doesn’t fit the villain he becomes in the Ready Player Two book.
The end of the Ready Player One movie sees Wade meet a mysterious version of Halliday within the OASIS, who, though quirky, seems far wiser than his book counterpart. In all, the character, played by Mark Rylance in the movie was extremely easy to like, and his final lines and the lessons he taught Wade served as the central heart of Spielberg’s film. Unfortunately, a Ready Player Two movie adapted from the book would throw this out the window since the AI version of Halliday living on in the OASIS is revealed to be the central villain.
A Ready Player One Movie Line Perfectly Set Up Ready Player Two 2 Years Before The Book Came Out
Spielberg changed the nature of Halliday’s avatar in his Ready Player One movie, coincidentally setting up the book sequel’s villain plot twist.
2 The Ready Player One Movie Focuses More On Halliday’s Regrets About Kira
Halliday’s greatest regrets about Kira aren’t addressed until the Ready Player One sequel.
The Ready Player One movie implies that Halliday’s regret about missing out on love with Kira because of his pop culture obsessions is why he made the hunt for the Easter Egg to begin with. Though Kira’s role in Halliday’s life played a significant part in his contest in the book, there wasn’t as much indication that he had learned his lesson regarding his antisocial ways. In fact, Ready Player Two reveals that he secretly uploaded Kira’s brain into the OASIS without her consent so he could keep a version of her to himself.
1 The Ready Player One Movie Leaves Out Wade’s OASIS Access Privileges
The Robes of Anorak were left out of the movie but are important in the Ready Player Two book.
A significant feature of Ready Player Two is the Robes of Anorak, an artifact that gives the wearer unlimited access to anything within the OASIS. It was worn by Halliday’s avatar in the Ready Player One book and was given to Wade after he won the contest. While wearing it, Wade could be invisible, teleport anywhere he wanted, and access private information on any OASIS user. In the sequel, the villainous AI version of Halliday steals the robe from Wade and uses it to wreak havoc, which can’t be done without retconning the item’s involvement in the first film.
