How “A Quiet Place: Day One” tells a “Part II” origin story

See an exclusive first look at Alex Wolff's mystery role in the film, alongside Lupita Nyong'o and Djimon Hounsou.

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During the events of 2021's A Quiet Place Part II, the sequel to John Krasinski's post-apocalyptic horror thriller, Regan Abbott (Millicent Simmonds), daughter of Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and brother of Marcus (Noah Jupe), fights through a world filled with monsters all the way to a remote island. There, she discovers a secret safe haven of survivors, including a man played by Djimon Hounsou (Rebel Moon).

His name still remains a mystery, but he alludes to certain things that happened in New York on the day these ferocious alien beasts that hunt through sound first arrived on Earth. A Quiet Place: Day One, a prequel coming this June 28, will now chronicle some of those events.

"That was definitely a jumping-off point for a lot of things," the film's director, Michael Sarnoski (Pig), tells Entertainment Weekly. "Then we took it into our own direction to explore, but [Hounsou] certainly plays the same character he is in the second movie. It's not his twin or anything like that. He's there and we get to learn a little bit more about that backstory and how that group of people started out."

Will we learn his name, too? "We do get to learn his name," Sarnoski replies. "I won't tell you what it is."

Hounsou appears in EW's exclusive sneak peek at A Quiet Place: Day One which includes a new look at Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o and the reveal of Hereditary star Alex Wolff's mystery role. Nyong'o stars as Sam, who's on a day trip to New York City with her cat, Frodo, on the very occasion the aliens crash land and wreak havoc.

"I can say that Alex Wolff plays a friend to Lupita's character who goes through some craziness that they have to deal with together," Sarnoski teases. "The biggest thing for me was that the first two films very much circle around a family and these people that have established relationships. I wanted to explore a little more of what it would look like for strangers to have to go through the end of the world together."

Without any sarcasm, he notes how being in an international city like New York, especially during an invasion, "can be a very alienating experience."

According to the filmmaker, Krasinski, who directed and co-wrote 2018's hit first entry A Quiet Place before becoming the sole writer and director on the sequel, approached Sarnoski to work on Day One after seeing his 2021 Nicolas Cage-led indie Pig, which also featured Wolff. "He came to me and said, 'Will you bring the Pig touch to the Quiet Place universe? What would that look like to you?'" Sarnoski recalls. "It came back to something I loved about the first two films: Yes, these are monster films, they're horror-thriller movies that have these exciting, scary moments, but at their core, they're stories about people dealing with something that they don't know how to deal with. I wanted to focus on that but in its own unique way."

In what way specifically? Shh. No spoilers.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.