Reading Tarkovsky’s diaries once again, it’s interesting to me to read that at one stage he considered a sequel to Stalker. The proposed continuation would see the Stalker turning into a messianic figure, forcibly dragging people to the wishing room. Can, Tarkovsky wonders, people be thus bullied into happiness?

The stalker would become a ‘votary’ and ‘fascist’ (Tarkovsky’s labels).

Of course, this idea was not pursued – perhaps Andrey realised that such contradictions are already implied within the thematic narrative of Stalker. Best to leave the resonance and the questioning to the audience…
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