Talk of a Cloverfield sequel has been around for quite some time now. Fans were eager to see more of the found footage monster pic after its 2008 release, and producer J.J. Abrams, director Matt Reeves, and screenwriter Drew Goddard have been plagued with Cloverfield sequel questions for the past three and a half years. All involved stressed that it was more important to have a story worth telling than to rush straight into production on a follow-up, and major movement on the sequel has yet to happen.

Steve sat down with Goddard earlier today to talk about his upcoming directorial debut The Cabin in the Woods (co-written by Joss Whedon), and the scribe gave an update on the status of the sequel and why it hasn't come to fruition sooner. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

When asked about the status of the sequel, Goddard gave pretty much the same answer we’ve been hearing for the past few years:

“I wish I had a better answer (laughs), I wish I had an answer where it’s like, ‘Oh the sequel’s starting shooting at this time next year,’ but the truth is, these things take time.”

The truth is that Goddard, Reeves and Abrams just haven’t had a chance to get together to hash out ideas for a follow-up:

“I think if you asked J.J., Matt and I, we each have our own ideas of what we would want to do, which is kind of how the first Cloverfield worked, it was sort of a conversation between the three of us. I’ve certainly thought about it a lot and I think Matt said the same and J.J. said the same, we just haven’t got the three of us together in one room to figure out what we would want to do.”

Abrams is a ridiculously busy guy juggling his own directorial projects and producer commitments in both film and television, Reeves has multiple directorial projects lined up as well, and Goddard’s Cabin in the Woods is getting crazy positive buzz so I’m assuming he’ll have quite a few phone calls once the film hits theaters. As you can imagine, getting their schedules to sync up isn't the easiest of tasks. That said, I’m not necessarily sure that Cloverfield begs for a follow-up. Steve mentioned to Goddard that not all movies need a sequel, and Cloverfield definitely works as a stand-alone pic:

“Certainly we didn’t set out to make a franchise, we set out to make a good movie. That was what we set out to do. But also, I love that world and that universe so if there was an idea that excited us enough and we felt like there was a reason to do it, we would do it.”

The film took in quite a hefty haul at the box office against its small budget, so it makes sense that Paramount is eager to get a sequel going. Goddard said that’s where being friends with J.J. Abrams comes in:

“The nice thing about working with a guy like J.J. and the power he has [is that] the studio’s not gonna force him to do anything. He’s been able to say, ‘We’ll do it when we’re ready. We’re not gonna do it just because it’ll help your bottom line, we’re gonna do it because there’s an idea that excites us.’ So that’s informed our discussions, we don’t feel like we have to [do it], so it’s like, ‘Can we come up with something that excites us enough to do it?’ “

The scribe also briefly touched on the theory that the alien in Abrams’ Super 8 is somehow connected to the alien in Cloverfield (a theory that Abrams himself has already shot down), confirming that Abrams never discussed the connection with him. I thought Cloverfield was a damn entertaining moviegoing experience, but found footage has now become its own genre. It would be interesting to see how a Cloverfield sequel plays now that found footage is commonplace, and Goddard and co. would definitely have to find a way to make the experience fresh again. That said, I’m confident that if and when the day comes that Cloverfield 2 heads into production, it’ll be because Reeves, Abrams and Goddard came up with a compelling story idea. You can watch the portion of Steve’s interview where Goddard talks about the Cloverfield sequel below, and be sure to look out for the full interview closer to the release of The Cabin in the Woods.