Is J.J. Abrams the OVERLORD of the CLOVERFIELD Universe?

J.J. Abrams recently rounded out the cast for his World War II project, Overlord…or is it his new Cloverfield project?

The first actors announced for Overlord were Wyatt Russell and Jovan Adepo. Joining them will be a team of well-known character actors including Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones­), Dominic Applewhite (The King’s Speech), Pilou Abaek (Game of Thrones), Iain de Caestecker (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), John Magaro (The Big Short), Mathilde Ollivier (The Misfortunes of Francois Jane), and Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo).

The story follows a pair of American paratroopers who are dropped into a Nazi-occupied village to destroy a radio tower. However, they discover it is more than a simple military operation and find themselves fighting against supernatural forces which are part of a Nazi experiment.

Julius Avery will direct the Bad Robot film with a script written by Billy Ray and Mark L. Smith. Lindsey Weber will join Abrams as a producer.

Even though Overlord has not been categorized as a Cloverfield film, it doesn’t mean that is not. But how does it tie in with Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane? Well, let’s take a look at those two films first.

10 Cloverfield Lane does not technically share the same timeline as the Matt Reeves’ 2008 original. They are considered “separate freestanding stories” in the Cloverfield universe. Though the two films are “not related,” here are some common elements they share: Slusho! the drink, Targruato the Japanese deep-sea drilling company, which is the parent company for the drink, and tech company Bold Futura.

How does Overlord fit into this? According to Cloverpedia, the Japanese company Targruato was established in 1945, which also happens to be the same year the Japanese surrendered in WWII when Overlord takes place. So, could this be an origin story for the shady Targruato company which may or may not have had their fingers dabbling in the Nazi supernatural experiments?

Now let’s toss one more log onto this little smoke pit.

10 Cloverfield Lane was developed under the name The Cellar to keep the film’s true identity a secret. Now, the movie known as God Particle has been “pulled” from its original release and re-listed with a new title. Any guess? That’s right, it’s now a untitled Cloverfield Movie.

God Particle, which stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Chris O’Dowd, Daniel Bruhl, Zhang Ziyi, and Elizabeth Debicki, follows crew members aboard a space station, alone after a scientific experiment causes Earth to disappear. When another space shuttle mysteriously appears, they have to determine if they are friends or foes.

OK, so how could this possibly tie into Overlord?

Since Bold Futura is a tech company, they could have a hand in the space program and Earth’s disappearance. Which could make sense if the theory is correct about a possible partnership between the Nazis (who are involved with supernatural experimentation in Overlord) and the creators of Targruato.

Yeah, may be a stretch, but since we are talking about Abrams and his fascination with keeping his fans guessing, any of this could be a possibility.

Filming for Overlord will begin this month. The movie formerly known as God Particle will now be released on October 27, 2017.