The eight original installments of the Halloween movies series make up one of the most popular horror franchises of all time, yet none have had such a lasting effect on the genre like co-writer and director John Carpenter’s slasher-pioneering original from 1978. That may be why Halloween from 2018 and its 2021 follow-up Halloween Kills ignore the events of all of the other sequels to see Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) have a proper final showdown with Michael Myers (who is not her brother, by the way). Before that conflict is ultimately resolved in Halloween Ends, let’s reflect on everything we already know about one of the most anticipated upcoming horror movies, which is among the big movies set to release this fall...
Halloween Ends Is Set To Release October 2022
To me, it feels wrong to release a Halloween movie at any other time of the year than around Halloween - an unspoken rule that Rob Zombie broke twice by putting out his Halloween remake and its sequel in August of their respective release years. Thus, I am happy to say that, like its two predecessors, Halloween Ends is currently slated to come out in theaters in October (with no word at the moment on if it will also be available to stream on Peacock the same day). To be more specific, Friday, October 14, 2022, is the day on which one of the most iconic horror movie franchises will reach its finale… supposedly.
Halloween Ends Is Meant To Be The Last Of The Franchise’s New Trilogy
A true horror fan knows that a horror series’ final chapter should never be assumed as absolute (for instance, there were two Friday the 13th movies released nine years apart that made such a claim, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Friday came out two years before Wes Craven released New Nightmare, and The Final Destination was really the fourth out of five installments so far). John Carpenter himself told fans at 2019’s Keystone Comic Con in Philadelphia not to expect an ending “as long as there’s money” to be made by the franchise. However, executive producer Ryan Freimann told ComicBook that Halloween Ends will serve as an official finale (to this new trilogy of scares at least).
Halloween Ends Takes Place Years Later In A Post-pandemic Society
While Halloween Kills took a cue from 1980’s Halloween II and picked up immediately from where its 2018 predecessor left off, Halloween Ends will not be a direct continuation of that same night when Michael Myers came back home. Director David Gordon Green revealed in an interview for the ReelBlend podcast that there will be a “bit of time jump” so the sequel will actually take place at the time of release. He provided another interesting detail to Uproxx, describing 2022 Haddonfield as a community still reeling from the trauma it faced four years earlier, but also from a “worldwide pandemic and peculiar politics.” Considering the real-life inspirations teased here, this could be the most grounded Halloween yet.
Jamie Lee Curtis Leads The Cast Of Halloween Ends
Jamie Lee Curtis became, arguably, the quintessential Scream Queen when she made her feature film debut in Halloween as Laurie Strode, whom she will reprise just once more (and I think she means it this time) alongside fellow original vet Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace. Also returning for the Halloween Ends cast is Andi Matichak as Laurie’s granddaughter, Allyson, but likely not Judy Greer as Laurie’s daughter, Karen, who met a bitter end at Halloween Kills’ conclusion. However, the most important confirmed cast returnees (outside of Curtis, at least) are two men playing the same immortal character.
Nick Castle And James Jude Courtney Both Play Michael Myers Again In Halloween Ends
The first actor to ever play Michael Myers (when he was still credited as just “The Shape”) in the original Halloween was Nick Castle, who would also go on to work with John Carpenter on the script for Escape from New York from 1981. Not only did the original actor and filmmaker return to play the silent boogeyman in 2018’s Halloween and Halloween Kills, but sharing the role with him for the installments’ more physically demanding scenes under the mask is James Jude Courtney, who has been acting and performing stunts since the late 1980s. Both will embody Michael Myers in Halloween Ends, but whether or not it will be their last kill is currently up in the air.
David Gordon Green Returns To Direct Halloween Ends
We do know, however, that David Gordon Green’s tenure as the new Halloween franchise director does have an expiration date. The director of comedies like Pineapple Express and indie dramas Joe with Nicolas Cage would break into mainstream horror with the soft Halloween reboot and its sequel and, according to his 2019 Collider interview, Halloween Ends will be his final contribution to the franchise. His contributions to horror are far from over as he is now working on a sequel to 1973’s The Exorcist and a TV series based on Clive Barker’s Hellraiser movies.
David Gordon Green And Danny McBride Return To Write Halloween Ends
David Gordon Green also helped write 2018’s Halloween with the unlikeliest of names: his college buddy and comedian Danny McBride, along with Vice Principals writer Jeff Fradley. When Fradley did not return to write Halloween Kills, Scott Teems (who penned the upcoming Firestarter remake) helped Green and McBride finish the screenplay. To write Halloween Ends, Green and McBride were joined by Chris Bernier (known for 2017’s The House: A Hulu Halloween Anthology) and Paul Brad Logan, who wrote Green’s 2014 drama Manglehorn, starring Al Pacino.
John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, And More Are Producing Halloween Ends
David Gordon Green and Danny McBride also have executive producers’ credits for Halloween Ends, which they share with Ryan Friemann, Couper Samuelson, Jeanette Volturno, star Jamie Lee Curtis, and John Carpenter, who is also composing the music like he did with the original film. Also producing the film are Bill Block, Blumhouse founder Jason Blum, co-producer and Blumhouse associate Ryan Turek, and Malek Akkad, whose father, Moustapha Akkad, produced the film that started the franchise in the first place.
It really does warm a horror movie fan’s heart to see many of the same people behind the making of one of the best horror movies of all time (or even the descendant of one) involved in the revival of the franchise it sparked. Seeing the new Halloween in 2018 convinced me that the legacies of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode were in good hands. Hopefully, with Halloween Ends, they give us a finale to die for.
