Event Horizon’s Sequel Wraps Up This Week, But The Sci-Fi Horror Franchise Isn’t Going Anywhere

Published Sep 7, 2026, 9:08 AM EDT

Ambrose Tardive is an editor on ScreenRant's Comics team. Over the past two years, he has developed into the internet's foremost authority on The Far Side. Outside of his work for ScreenRant, Ambrose works as an Adjunct English Instructor.

2026 has been a stellar year for Event Horizon fans. Next year, the grisly cult classic sci-fi horror movie will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its release. Ahead of that milestone, the franchise made a hotly anticipated comeback, delivering both a prequel and a sequel to the film, while setting up the potential for many more stories in the Event Horizon universe.

First, Event Horizon: Dark Descent told the full story of the doomed experimental spacecraft, the Event Horizon. The follow-up, Inferno, jumps 200 years into the future, as another attempt to salvage the ship's wreckage turns into a demonic nightmare. Inferno is deliberately the Aliens of Event Horizon, ratcheting up the action and expanding equally on the sci-fi and horror parts of the franchise. Like Aliens, this formula worked.

Event Horizon: Inferno #5 drops this week, capping off what might turn out to be the franchise revitalization of the decade. The graphic continuation of the movie has invented a terrifying cosmology for the series, and it hasn't shied away from the hellish imagery the original '97 movie could only really hint at.

It has also proven there's a huge appetite for Event Horizon, making it a sure thing that it will continue beyond Inferno.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Event Horizon: Inferno!

Event Horizon's Sequel Is Ending, But The Franchise's New Era Is Just Beginning

Event Horizon: Inferno #5 By Christian Ward & Robert Carey

The mystery at the start of 1997's Event Horizon was, what happened to the ship the movie is named after? What viewers learned was that the vessel tore a rift in the fabric of spacetime trying to test a faster-than-light engine, and something evil came through the rift. The short answer is "demonic," but Event Horizon didn't dwell on the details. The movie was about the rescue ship Lewis and Clark and its crew falling prey to the same evil, whatever it was.

Event Horizon left fans with a lot of questions, and pining for a sequel. For a long time, it seemed like it would never come. That gave IDW Publishing's Inferno a lot to live up to. Largely, it has. Inferno has been one of the best comic series of 2026, and an example of how franchise storytelling can flex its muscles in comic form, in ways it often struggles to on the screen.

Inferno finishes its 5-issue run this week. A trade paperback edition is set for release in March 2027. The collected edition of Event Horizon: Dark Descent is available now. Where Event Horizon could go next is still an open question, but it has laid the foundation for an expanded universe that should continue to grow, especially with the fate of an on-screen revival still uncertain.

Inferno Works As A Sequel To Event Horizon & As The Pilot For A New Expanded Universe

Inferno is a direct sequel to Event Horizon in one critical way: the return of Lewis and Clark crewmember Lieutenant M. L. Starck (played by Joely Richardson in the movie) as the official Ellen Ripley of the series. Though it has been centuries, Starck is still alive after the events of the film. (How and why are questions Inferno answers, but some things are left unspoiled.)

Whether Starck makes it out of Inferno #5 is to be determined. Whether anyone makes it out alive is TBD. But unless the issue ends with the utter annihilation of the Event Horizon universe, fans should expect there to be a sequel to the sequel.

Maybe a direct follow-up, maybe not. After unleashing hell on its characters issue after issue, Inferno now seems poised to unleash hell upon the wider galaxy. That lays the groundwork for a lot more thrilling sci-fi horror, and many different creative directions the Event Horizon franchise could go in. That's something fans of the movie were just starting to lose hope for just a few years ago, but IDW made it happen.

Event Horizon: Inferno #5 will be available Wednesday, September 9, 2026 from IDW Publishing.

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