There are zero flashbacks in John Krasinski's horror favorite, but that wasn't always going to be the case.

[Editor’s note: The following post contains spoilers for “A Quiet Place.”]

John Krasinski’s acclaimed horror film “A Quiet Place” opens with an extended set piece featuring the Abbott family scavenging for supplies in a deserted town. The rules of the film’s universe quickly became clear, specifically that the Abbott family can not make a single noise or else they’ll be hunted by something. The set piece ends with the sounds of a toy rocket going off, resulting in the death of the Abbott’s youngest son, Beau (Cade Woodward).

Critics have praised the “A Quiet Place” opening as a visceral and emotionally involving introduction to the dystopian future created by screenwriters Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, and Krasinski, who also directed and starred in the film, but it turns out the set piece wasn’t always going to open the film. Producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller recently confirmed to Yahoo Entertainment the film’s original script incorporated the opening as a flashback later in the film. It’s a small but fundamental difference, as using the set piece as a flashback reveal means “A Quiet Place” would have started with the Abbott in mourning and created a mystery over the source of their grief.

Fortunately, the screenwriters decided to let the set piece play out in real-time as the film’s opening sequence. The decision was in keeping with a larger motive on “A Quiet Place” not to include flashbacks, which was set in motion after Krasinski boarded the project and added his own tweaks to Woods and Beck’s script.

“There was more dialogue in the original screenplay [by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck],” Form told Yahoo. “Because there was an enormous flashback sequence that was removed from the film once John took over [as director and cowriter] [that was] way before the invasion.”

Form’s comment means there was at least two major flashbacks in the original “A Quiet Place” script: One that serves as the opening scene in the film and another set before the alien invasion. While the theatrical release never shows the world before the invasion, the potential sequel might go there.

Krasinski is currently working on the script for the next film, and there’s no word yet on whether it will be a sequel following the Abbott family, a prequel set before the time the monsters arrived, or a side story focusing on a different family during the same time period as the original.

“A Quiet Place 2” is set for release on May 15, 2020.

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