‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ Sequel Writer Announced, And E.L. James Won’t Be Happy

Fifty Shades Of Grey‘s sequel will be written by a new scribe who is awfully familiar with the source material, after it was revealed that E.L. James’ husband, Niall Leonard, will scribe the film.

The Hollywood Reporter were the first to confirm that Leonard will write the follow-up to the monster hit erotic drama, which grossed $568.8 million earlier this year.

Michael De Luca, who is the producer for Fifty Shades Of Grey, told the publication, “Niall is an outstanding writer in his own right, with multiple established credits, and we are lucky to have him join Team Fifty.”

Leonard’s writing career has previously seen him scribe for the British television shows Air Force One Is Down and Wire In The Blood, while he’s also written the Crusher book series. E.L. James and Leonard have two teenage sons, and they currently live in west London.

Leonard is also believed to have worked on the script for Fifty Shades Of Grey. However, he wasn’t credited in this role. The film was credited to Kelly Marcel, who previously wrote for and created the television show Terra Nova.

Universal’s adaptation of Fifty Shades Of Grey was allegedly dogged by creative issues, as E.L. James repeatedly clashed with director Sam Taylor-Johnson over the direction of the film. This included the film’s ending, which differed from her novel.

This is believed to have been one of the main reasons why both Sam Taylor-Johnson and Marcel decided to leave the film. News on the sequel has recently stalled because of these departures, while its two leading stars, Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, who portrayed Ana Steele and Christian Grey in the original film, are also believed to be negotiating for a pay increase.

Based on E.L. James’ first installment to her Fifty Shades trilogy, Fifty Shades Of Grey tells the story of 21-year-old Anastasia Steele, a literature student at Washington State University, who stars a sadomasochistic relationship with business impresario Christian Grey. The erotic romance sold over 100 million copies across the world, while it was then followed up with the second and third volumes to the series, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.

Despite grossing such a gargantuan amount of money, Fifty Shades Of Grey was savaged by reviewers, who attacked it for being sexually lame and shabbily assembled, while Dakota Johnson was the only one of the cast and crew who was praised for her efforts in the film.