Warning: This post contains spoilers for Split and the Cloverfield films.

From Star Trek to Star wars, the lens flare god, J.J. Abrams, has his fingers in many pies. The Cloverfield universe is but one among many. J.J. also stands apart as more of a team player than filmmakers like Shyamalan, who prefer to write, direct, and produce their own stories. Thus, J.J.’s corresponding universe follows this approach. 10 Cloverfield Lane started life as a spec scripted called “The Cellar.” After the script was purchased by Paramount and handed off to Bad Robot, J.J. and his crew went to work adapting a contained suspense thriller into a story that took place in the world of 2008’s Cloverfield—although that, too, is now a matter of debate.

After all, the surprise release of The Cloverfield Paradox further altered the franchise. Adapting another spec script, J.J. developed a cop out “retroactive explanation” to narratively link the three films. However, Bad Robot began production and filming the spec script as a stand-alone movie first. Screenwriter Oren Uziel, in an interview with Collider, explained that the team “rewrote [the script] during production.” Ultimately, his film became The Cloverfield Paradox, despite Uziel being “not sure what it means to be part of the expanded Cloverfield universe.” Netflix then dropped the trailer and film out of nowhere with a surprise announcement during Super Bowl LII.

“The lens flare god, J.J. Abrams, has his fingers in many pies…”

Thus, J.J. communicates the connection to the audience from the outset. Presumably banking on name-recognition, J.J.’s approach markets two very different films to audiences of the 2008 found footage thriller. Arguably, a Cloverfield name draws more fans than a non-descript bunker movie, John Goodman notwithstanding. Even Uziel speculated that the decision on Paradox was driven by the difficulty with marketing original sci-fi movies. Witness, as Exhibit A, the lackluster performance of 2017’s Life, despite involvement by Hollywood A-listers Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal.

But what does it all mean?