Fresh off the massive success of Backrooms, director Kane Parsons may already be looking toward another beloved property, and it’s one that video game fans have wanted to see adapted for years.
Parsons recently appeared on The Town podcast, where he discussed what might come next after his breakout hit. While he made it clear that he isn’t eager to jump straight into established franchises, he did leave the door open for a couple of exceptions tied to projects he grew up loving.
According to Parsons, he wasn’t interested in tackling existing IP next “barring one or two things” from his childhood, adding that some early conversations are already taking place.
That comment immediately sparked speculation online as fans tried to figure out which properties he could be referring to. Portal is one title quickly rose to the top of the conversation.
Created by Kim Swift, Erik Wolpaw, and Valve, Portal remains one of gaming’s most celebrated franchises. The puzzle-based sci-fi series challenges players to navigate increasingly dangerous test chambers using a portal gun while dealing with the manipulative AI antagonist GLaDOS.
Its mix of clever gameplay, dark humor, and unsettling atmosphere has made it a fan favorite for nearly two decades.
The speculation gained even more traction when The New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan weighed in with information from a previous conversation he had with Parsons.
Buchanan shared on X: “I’ve seen people speculate that Kane Parsons is referring to a potential Portal movie here. I asked him in early May if he’d be interested in directing that and he said he was already looking into it ‘with a lot of caution and a lot of curiosity.'”
So Parson’s is at least entertaining the possibility. Parsons feels like an interesting choice to bring the strange, unsettling world of Portal to life. His work on Backrooms demonstrated an ability to create plays with strange environments and atmosphere, turning empty, liminal spaces into something some audiences found unnerving.
Those strengths could translate well to the sterile testing facilities and psychological weirdness that define Portal.
Of course, nothing has been officially announced, and Parsons’ comments shouldn’t be taken as confirmation that a Portal movie is happening.
The attention surrounding Parsons is understandable. At just 20 years old, he recently became the youngest filmmaker ever to direct a movie that reached the number one spot at the U.S. box office with Backrooms.
The film, which attempted to explore the nightmare-like terror of liminal spaces, stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve and has become one of the year’s biggest surprise hits. Produced on a reported budget of just $10 million, the film has already earned nearly $150 million worldwide.
That kind of success means Hollywood is undoubtedly paying attention to whatever Parsons wants to do next. Whether that ends up being an original project or a trip through Aperture Science’s testing chambers remains to be seen, but the idea of a Portal movie from the director of Backrooms is certainly a possibility.
