Twisters director answers lingering question fans had about link to the original Twister

New blockbuster is a sequel to the 1996 disaster movie

Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung has shed some light over the film’s connection to the original 1996 disaster film Twister.

Starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones, Twisters is an entirely new story set in the same universe as its predecessor. Going into the sequel, fans had speculated that some of the characters from the original film would make cameo appearances – with some theorising that Edgar-Jones’s character would be the daughter of Helen Hunt’s Twister character, Jo Harding.

However, midway through the film, we are introduced to Edgar-Jones’s mother, who is played in the film by Newsradio’s Maura Tierney. The character has no link to anyone previously established in the world of Twister.

Speaking to The Wrap, Chung explained the lack of crossover between the two films, and offered his take on the whereabouts of Hunt’s character during the events of Twisters.

“I just felt like that is not what I want to see Jo Harding doing years from now,” Chung said. “Right after seeing that first film, I imagined, ‘What is Jo Harding up to now?’

“She’s out there chasing storm[s], not at the farm complaining that her daughter’s not calling her. And so that was really the basis of why, ‘OK, it’s got to be someone else.’”

Chung previously revealed that he did not consult with Hunt or Jan de Bont, the director of the original, before embarking on the sequel.

Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones in ‘Twisters’ (Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures & Amblin Entertainment)

“I don’t know what [Hunt’s] version was, and unfortunately, I have not been able to talk to her nor Jan de Bont nor to anyone from the cast about the movie,” he told IndieWire. “We have a few people who worked on the original in our crew.

“When I read the script [by Mark L. Smith with a story by Joseph Kosinski], I really loved the approach they were taking with it, that it was going to be a new story, with new characters and an entirely new science project … I really believe Helen Hunt is a genius, and I would have loved to work with her. That choice was just never a part of me coming on board with this, however.”

In a four-star review of Twisters for The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “There’s a part of Twisters that feels expected from director Lee Isaac Chung, the man behind the tender, observant 2020 immigrant drama Minari.

“Real, tangible communities lie in the path of devastation (the inevitable mention of climate change reminds us that the situation only gets worse from here), yet there’s such a feeling of solidarity and resilience in the air that it lends an otherwise chaos-dictated disaster spectacle a surprising touch of hopefulness.”

The film is out now in cinemas.