There was a sequel novel to the book, “Trainspotting,” that Danny Boyle directed into a career-making hit back in 1996. “Porno” is that sequel, and Danny Boyle is anxious to film it. But he’s still got a year or two to line up talent, get the John Hodge script he wants, and so forth.

“We are hoping to get to “Trainspotting 2” made. We’d love to get to it to celebrate the 20 years since it came out. All that’s happened to the characters, to the actors playing those characters, to the audience. We’re not just trying to cash in on a valuable property.

“It will be wonderful if we can get them all — Ewan (McGregor), Jonny Lee Miller, Kelly (MacDonald), Robert (Carlyle) — back together again, with a decent script. This will have a resonance, I hope, that goes beyond its commercial appeal. It’ll be about something. That’s what I’m hoping.

“Where are they? What have they done? Are any of them dead? One of the things about your 20s is that you do impossible and dangerous things and somehow survive. Unless you’re unlucky. These guys obviously have survived, probably hanging around the same town. It’ll be lovely to let them reflect on their lives, as the body starts to creak and the old osteo-arthritis acts up, the early warning signs of age.”

So what IS the director of “Slumdog Millionaire,” “127 Hours” and now “Trance” doing next?

“We have a couple of period pieces in the works, believe it or not,” he says with a laugh. “
A bit of a surprise, coming from me. But they won’t be like ‘Downton Abbey,’ that’s all I have to say.”