When asked about the mild sequel tease at the end — the bear surviving — Warden revealed that he has a whole series of “Cocaine Bear” films in mind. It is, after all, the ethos of modern filmmaking to ensure that any mild hit immediately take up permanent residence in the pop consciousness. One cannot gain any kind of cultural traction without immediately planning sequels. Warden doesn’t just want a single sequel. He wants many. He wants so many that eventually the cocaine bear gets ridiculous. He wants, “Not just a sequel. Many sequels,” saying that ‘”Cocaine Bear in Space’ is where we would probably end.” When asked if he was joshing a bit, Warden said:
“I’m f***ing with you about ‘Cocaine Bear Goes to Space.’ But for the sequels, I definitely have ideas for that. The bear’s not the bad guy in this movie. What happened is a product of circumstance and everybody else’s poor decisions. I think that is a story that we can continue to tell over and over again. I’d be excited to tell it because there are some really good ideas that we have for the subsequent movies.”
Indeed, the cocaine bear is not the villain of its movie. It’s the drug dealers, killers, muggers, and criminals who are the bad guys. The bear is merely an X factor, an unknown element that provides the bad guys with their moral comeuppance. It just happens to be addicted to cocaine. Anywhere that someone is making bad decisions and using coke, this bear could show up.
