Syfy Sets a Sequel to ‘Sharknado’

Syfy Ian Ziering, center, and Cassie Scerbo in “Sharknado.”

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into a violent funnel of air and rain that has also picked up deadly fish known for their cartilaginous skeletons: the Syfy channel announced on Wednesday morning that it had given the official green light to a sequel to “Sharknado,” its recent made-for-TV movie that became a social media sensation, if not quite a ratings smash.

The original “Sharknado,” which made its Syfy debut on July 11, starred Ian Ziering, Cassie Scerbo and Tara Reid as Southern Californians terrorized by a tornado full of sharks. (What were you expecting, an all-shark production of “The Mikado”?) This willfully lowbrow B-movie generated about 387,000 online comments from its broadcast and was especially popular on Twitter, which reported a peak of about 5,000 tweets per minute about the film. Even so, “Sharknado” was watched by about 1.37 million viewers, not much more than the audience that tunes in to Syfy on a given Thursday night.

In a statement announcing plans for “Sharknado 2,” which will take place in New York and will be shown next year, Thomas Vitale, Syfy’s executive vice president for programming and original movies, said: “Every once in a while, there is a perfect storm - on television. The fans are clamoring for a sequel. Or perhaps it will be a prequel. What we can guarantee is that ‘Sharknado 2’ will be lots of fun. We’ll be announcing more details very soon. But we didn’t want our fans to worry they wouldn’t get their fill of more shark fin, I mean, fun next year.”

Syfy did not immediately say which original “Sharknado” cast members might return for the sequel (or what would be left of them). A budget for “Sharknado 2″ was not disclosed.