Mason Gooding Returns for Another Date With Death in ‘Heart Eyes 2

I gave you an early Valentine’s Day gift when I broke the news that writer-director Josh Ruben (Scare Me, Werewolves Within) is sharpening his knife for a Heart Eyes sequel and has recently completed a script.

Screen Gems’ holiday-themed slasher quickly gained a cult following with word of mouth propelling the film’s box office to an even stronger second weekend, a rare feat for pretty much any movie. It would end its run at $33M worldwide, opening the door for sequel conversations.

In the film, a masked maniac with glowing, red eyes returns every Valentine’s Day to slaughter unsuspecting couples. When a cynical ad executive and her hopelessly romantic colleague become the next target, they decide to fight back and end the reign of terror. It starred Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding, both of whom survived the murders.

DREAD CENTRAL can exclusively report that Mason Gooding is in talks to return as Jay Simmonds, Holt’s love interest. On the other hand, no word yet on whether we’ll see Holt returning to her role, too.

Heart Eyes 2 could go into production as early as this summer. Ruben is also prepping for Wilderness Reform, another Paramount project announced late last year.

Last February, Ruben shared his vision for how he would approach a sequel… or sequels.

“I’ll put it this way: You could replicate the structure of any great rom-com, from His Girl Friday to Defending Your Life, and you could drop Heart Eyes into the center of that story, and have him flash and slash about,” he told Variety.

“That’s what’s exciting about this: There’s an opportunity that we could have whoever the filmmaker was — certainly, I’d be interested — genuinely trying to create or replicate that rom-com, or the  of a  or  or what have you, but actually have those people terrified by this psychopathic killer.”