Courtesy of “The Box”

Filmmaker Richard Kelly hasn’t released a new movie since “The Box” in 2009, but he’s now back in the entertainment scene with “The Philosophy of Time Travel,” a 800+ page novel. This work acts as a sequel to his most celebrated piece, “Donnie Darko,” from 2001.

Set in 1988, immediately following the original film starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the Southern California teen protagonist Donnie’s death.

[tf-tv]

The plan involves first adapting the work into an animated/motion-capture film, and then progressing the narrative with a live-action project that spans 28 years into the future.

The novel is written in found-documents style with alternating pieces from Donnie’s mother, Rose, and father, Eddie, and “them vigorously documenting what is happening to them and why their son has died and their paranoia and their separate detective missions about how to figure out what happened and why it happened.”

Kelly says he hasn’t yet reached out to cast members to revive their roles for the sequel films. Alongside Gyllenhaal, stars like Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle, and Seth Rogen appeared in the film.

The book will debut in the fourth quarter of this year, in time with the 25th anniversary of the film.