James Halliday's Easter Egg challenges in the virtual reality of OASIS. The legendary director brought this story to life with the incorporation of highly successful, iconic media franchises, and Ready Player One's distinctive soundtrack. Spielberg's adaption of Ready Player One prefaced the story to a wider-reaching audience, but despite its huge box office success, the movie has yet to get a sequel. However, a new Amazon Prime series may be the ideal replacement.

Secret Level is Prime's new adult anthology TV show, created by Tim Miller. This new series shares some notable characteristics with Spielberg's movie, as Ready Player One and Secret Level are both recognized for their distinctive features of constructing immersive worlds based on existing, popular intellectual properties. Miller's work on Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate makes the series seem promising, despite the limited details about the production. Another byproduct of the surge in video game adaptions in recent years, Secret Level may be just what Ready Player One fans need.

Secret Level Looks Like The Perfect Show If You Liked Ready Player One

Despite Secret Level Having No Ready Player One Connections, There Are Many Similar Concepts

While the Prime series is not officially connected to the previous movie, Secret Level's premise is appreciable given some lasting fondness for the nostalgia-fueled, immersive world of Ready Player One. Secret Level and Ready Player One share the foundational premise of a virtual reality realm packed with challenges, benefiting players who are clued up to '80s and '90s culture. The new adult animated series will have 15 different and original stories spread out across the season, embracing the anthology format.

The Secret Level will adapt existing video game worlds and franchises, such as Dungeons & Dragons, Outer Worlds, and many other PlayStation Studios titles. Therefore, Secret Level can recapture the magic of Ready Player One.

How Secret Level's Video Game Worlds Will Be Different From Ready Player One

There Are Several Key Differences Between Secret Level & Ready Player One

The most notable difference between Ready Player One and Secret Level is that the latter is an anthology, meaning each episode will take place within a different video game universe. This detaches itself from the narrative of Ready Player One, which makes OASIS a significant story element. The trailer suggests that the series is going to feature a darker, more suspenseful tone. This may emphasize particular themes depending upon which video game universe is at work, but it is unquestionably a stark contrast to the more playful adventures of Ready Player One.

From the outlook, the use of IPs in Secret Level will offer a more grounded experience in some morally ambiguous situations.

However, the idea of exploring a collection of established IPs is still very much the same. Although the characters in Ready Player One maintain a physical presence in the real world, Secret Level's video game universe will serve as the primary focus of each story. From the outlook, the use of IPs in Secret Level will offer a more grounded experience in some morally ambiguous situations.

Why The Ready Player One Sequel Is Taking So Long

Steven Spielberg Is Not Going To Direct The Ready Player One Sequel, But He Will Produce

The One sequel had an obvious path forward, seemingly an inevitable outcome after Spielberg's 2018 motion picture grossed $607 million at the worldwide box office. Cline told Inverse that a sequel was "in the early stages [...], especially since Hollywood is in limbo right now" back in 2020, and the subsequent delay could be due to the ramifications of the pandemic that halted numerous productions. On the other hand, the setback could also be attributed to the heavy criticism that Cline received in 2020 for his sequel being too unimaginative.

This definitely damaged the hype for the next movie. A fresh update was only recently provided when Spielberg confirmed his Ready Player Two involvement, telling Showbiz 411: "We’re in the discovery phase, trying to figure out what’s next." Regardless of the update from the director, Ready Player One has yet to receive an official green light for the sequel from Warner Bros — but Spielberg's attachment to the project could accelerate the process.

Source: Inverse, Showbiz 411