undertone writer-director Ian Tuason has confirmed the focus of his highly anticipated follow-up to his A24 horror hit.

Speaking with Phantasmag ahead of the UK and Ireland release this Friday, the filmmaker has confirmed the next instalment of his planned undertone trilogy will be a prequel. “I won’t say much, but the next one is the story of Mike and Jessa,” he said. “So we can see them now.” The characters were only heard in the first film, in the audio files anonymously sent to two horror podcasters (Nina Kiri and Adam DiMarco).

Tuason, who will next direct the new Paranormal Activity, has also teased the final entry in the trilogy while keeping plot details under wraps. “I’ll leave the third one a mystery, but I am talking to A24 about it,” he told Phantasmag. “It looks like it’s going to happen.”

“There are a lot of questions that I left open,” he added. “I want to answer them.” One loose thread is whether protagonists Evy (Nina Kiri) and Justin (Adam DiMarco) will feature in the planned sequels, and Tuason previously told CBR that Evy will appear in some capacity.

undertone was a huge indie filmmaking success story. Tuason shot the film in his parents’ home for only half a million dollars, before it was acquired by A24 in a seven-figure deal. In its US opening weekend, the film made $10 million, 20 times its budget.