Backrooms Director Eyeing A Portal Movie, But He’s Cautious About Adaptations
Overview & Key Takeaways
20-year-old Kane Parsons has one of the biggest movies of 2026 in Backrooms, and everyone wants to know what he will make next. In addition to spinning Backrooms into a TV series, Parsons is eyeing a movie based on Valve's Portal game.
The New York Times reports that Parsons said adapting the puzzle-platformer would be his dream. The report did not include any direct quotes from Parsons about this, so that's all we know, but the author of the piece, Kyle Buchanan, shared quotes online that didn't make it into the NYT story. He said Parsons told him that Parsons was looking into directing a Portal movie "with a lot of caution and a lot of curiosity."
In 2013, Valve announced plans to investigate the possibility of making Portal and Half-Life movies. Star Wars and Star Trek director JJ Abrams later came aboard to make the Portal movie. Warner Bros. was making the movie and hired a writer. In 2021, Abrams said he thought the Portal movie could get made.
As things tend to happen in Hollywood, however, the Portal movie never materialized, and neither did the Half-Life film.
Valve is known to take its time and be selective with its projects, and that very nature is what Parsons said he likes about Valve. Parsons recently said he respects Valve's integrity for making things because it wants to, and not just to make money..
Anyone who has seen Backrooms may have noticed that the film’s creaking door sound was borrowed from Portal. Parsons has also said Valve’s Portal series has been his single biggest influence creatively.
https://www.tiktok.com/@letterboxd/video/7643924909541838094
Parsons said he is so obsessed with Portal that he travels to the game's fictional setting in his dreams. Many people have pointed out that Backrooms' set design gives off a lot of Portal vibes.
Despite his enthusiasm for Valve and Portal, Parsons is also cautious about adaptations.
“Needing to step into someone else’s view of life tends to damage the initial point for me,” he said in a recent interview. “So the only ones that I would look at are ones that have shaped my own experience of life so much that I feel like I have something to do with that conversation in the first place.”
He was asked specifically if he would jump at the chance to make a Star Wars or Star Trek movie, or an adaptation of any “big” franchises, and he said that doesn’t interest him generally.
Parsons wants to make original IP, but he said there are “one or two” exceptions. These would be franchises from the early 2000s that resonate strongly and personally with Parsons. He declined to name them outright, but his new comments suggest Portal could be among them. He also teased that he may already have something in the works, offering, “Stuff may already be moving a little bit.”
Parsons is also connected to gaming through his family. His father, Michael Parsons, worked at Telltale Games and now works at Skydance.
20-year-old Kane Parsons has one of the biggest movies of 2026 in Backrooms, and everyone wants to know what he will make next. In addition to spinning Backrooms into a TV series, Parsons is eyeing a movie based on Valve’s Portal game.
The New York Times reports that Parsons said adapting the puzzle-platformer would be his dream. The report did not include any direct quotes from Parsons about this, so that’s all we know, but the author of the piece, Kyle Buchanan, shared quotes online that didn’t make it into the NYT story. He said Parsons told him that Parsons was looking into directing a Portal movie “with a lot of caution and a lot of curiosity.”
In 2013, Valve announced plans to investigate the possibility of making Portal and Half-Life movies. Star Wars and Star Trek director JJ Abrams later came aboard to make the Portal movie. Warner Bros. was making the movie and hired a writer. In 2021, Abrams said he thought the Portal movie could get made.
As things tend to happen in Hollywood, however, the Portal movie never materialized, and neither did the Half-Life film.
Valve is known to take its time and be selective with its projects, and that very nature is what Parsons said he likes about Valve. Parsons recently said he respects Valve’s integrity for making things because it wants to, and not just to make money..
Anyone who has seen Backrooms may have noticed that the film’s creaking door sound was borrowed from Portal. Parsons has also said Valve’s Portal series has been his single biggest influence creatively.
Parsons said he is so obsessed with Portal that he travels to the game’s fictional setting in his dreams. Many people have pointed out that Backrooms’ set design gives off a lot of Portal vibes.
Despite his enthusiasm for Valve and Portal, Parsons is also cautious about adaptations.
“Needing to step into someone else’s view of life tends to damage the initial point for me,” he said in a recent interview. “So the only ones that I would look at are ones that have shaped my own experience of life so much that I feel like I have something to do with that conversation in the first place.”
He was asked specifically if he would jump at the chance to make a Star Wars or Star Trek movie, or an adaptation of any “big” franchises, and he said that doesn’t interest him generally.
Parsons wants to make original IP, but he said there are “one or two” exceptions. These would be franchises from the early 2000s that resonate strongly and personally with Parsons. He declined to name them outright, but his new comments suggest Portal could be among them. He also teased that he may already have something in the works, offering, “Stuff may already be moving a little bit.”
Parsons is also connected to gaming through his family. His father, Michael Parsons, worked at Telltale Games and now works at Skydance.
