What Trainspotting 2 Is Really About, According To Danny Boyle

It's no secret that sequels run the film industry right now. With enough tender love and care, any movie can turn into a full-blown franchise. Danny Boyle's Trainspotting is one of the next long-awaited sequels to debut in theaters, and it's about time if you ask me. It's been an excruciating 20 years since we last saw this loveable group of heroin addicts, but now it appears that the gap between these stories was essential, as T2: Trainspotting relies heavily on the idea of how poorly men age. Boyle explained:


What has time done to them, you know? And how poorly have they aged? And indeed, men do age very, very badly. That's sort of what the film's really about, I think, is how---certainly compared to women---how badly men age, how we just don't want to and how we hang onto the past. So it became about those kind of things, really.

Danny Boyle's recent interview with Collider makes it very clear that T2: Trainspotting is not just a follow-up to the original film in terms of continuing the story. It's a return to a group of men two decades after we first met them as an audience and an examination of how poorly they have progressed during that period. Beyond that, there's also a strong sense of nostalgia and a reflection on the accomplishments (and regrets) of these characters in the years since we last saw them. If you've ever been to a class reunion, this should feel fairly relatable.



These themes tie directly into why Danny Boyle waited to get T2: Trainspotting off of the ground in the first place. It's less of a direct sequel and more of a successor in the sense that it returns to these characters and examines what they're up to at a considerably different time in their lives. By waiting to make this film, the cast and crew were able to experience something far more personal, and it elevated the final product. It, obviously, also helps that Danny Boyle was able to reunite almost everyone from the original Trainspotting to get back together again. Ewan McGregor was obviously the biggest actor, but his reunion with actors like Ewan Bremner and Robert Carlyle makes the long-awaited sequel that much more poignant and painful to watch.

It's worth mentioning that such a delayed sequel to Trainspotting was a real gamble. Sequels often have a definitive expiration date, and follow-ups that don't hit theaters promptly have a nasty habit of either falling completely flat, or simply not making a real impact on audiences in the long run. That said, there appears to be some ironclad rationale for why Trainspotting 2 has taken so long, so all eyes are on Danny Boyle and the returning cast to deliver a satisfying message about the nature of growing up -- or not growing up.


T2: Trainspotting is currently in theaters for a limited release, it will open wide on March 24. Check out our movie premiere guide for more information concerning the rest of 2017's cinematic releases.