Goyer: 'Ghost Rider 2 not a reboot'

David Goyer has revealed that the follow-up to Ghost Rider will be a sequel rather than a reboot.

According to the screenwriter, the film will be set eight years after the original and take a darker tone. He also stated that Nicolas Cage is still attached to reprise his role as protagonist Johnny Blaze.

"It's not exactly a reboot," Goyer told MTV. "I hate to say it's more realistic, because he's got a flaming skull for a head, but it's a bit more stripped down and darker. It's definitely changing tone. What Casino Royale was to the Bond movies, hopefully this will be to Ghost Rider."

The film will be based on a treatment that Goyer wrote some time ago, which has already appeared on several websites. Filming is due to commence next year.

"This story picks up eight years after the first film," he added. "You don't have to have seen the first film. It doesn't contradict anything that happened in the first film, but we're pretending that our audience hasn't seen the first film. It's as if you took that same character where things ended in the first film and then picked it up eight years later - he's just in a much darker, existential place."

Johnny Blaze first appeared in Marvel Spotlight in 1972. The character was created by writer-editor Roy Thomas, scribe Gary Friedrich and artist Mike Ploog. He made his big screen debut in 2007 courtesy of Sony Pictures.