Portal set for major revival as unexpected update teases franchise's future

Rumours regarding a revival of the Portal series have doubled down this week following a new update from Backrooms director Kane Parsons.

At just 20 years old, Parsons directed one of 2026's most popular horror movies, and it seems like the Backrooms director already has his hands in several new projects in development.

A new update from the director has possibly hinted at a revival of the Portal series, which was last seen in 2011 with the release of Portal 2.

In a snippet of a larger interview on the Kyle Buchanan Show, Parsons confirmed that he is working on "three dream projects" at the moment, though he couldn't confirm what they were.

He joked that if he revealed what the projects were, "they'd get me with their space lasers" and "if I speak about it, they can see through walls and they're very serious."

During his appearance on the podcast, Parsons was wearing a hoodie bearing the logo of Valve, which some fans have taken as a hint that one or more of his upcoming projects could be related to Valve.

Read More: Half-Life 3 speculation reignites after Valve developer mentions secret project

Kane Parsons would be a perfect fit to direct a Portal movie

Parsons was also seen visiting Valve headquarters earlier this year, and has posted cryptic teasers on his Instagram related to Valve. He's said before that the Portal series would be a dream project for him, and it was one of the main inspirations for his Backrooms web series that has been airing on YouTube since 2022. So, rumours that he's working on a Portal movie have persisted for quite some time.

With the Portal games being set in the Half-Life universe, this also paves the way for movies based on Half-Life, or at least set in that universe, to come to fruition. Given how similar Backrooms is to Portal in terms of themes, identity, and visual effects, we reckon Parsons would be a suitable fit to take on a movie adaptation.

In the interview, Parsons adds that he's still in an "information collection phase right now" and wants to structure things so that he has "as much mobility creatively."

Earlier this year he released Backrooms, a horror movie adaptation of his Backrooms web series starring Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Made on a budget of $10 million, the movie has grossed more than $400 million worldwide and has been called one of the year's best horror movies, with 86% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 316 critic reviews.

Meanwhile, a movie based on the Portal series has been in development since 2013. Film director J.J. Abrams was attached to the project, producing it under his film company Bad Robot Productions. Abrams confirmed he was still working on the film in 2016 and 2021, with a script being worked on by Warner Bros. Pictures. However, Abrams has not commented on this since then.

Read More: Half-Life: Alyx gets 'No VR' mode, perfect for those without an expensive headset