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Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Sequel Title and Premise (Possibly) Revealed

A follow-up movie to 2013 comedy horror ‘Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters’ is in the works - and now, we may have an idea of the title and just a hint of what it might all be about.

Tommy Wirkola, writer-director of the Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton vehicle, has opted not to return behind the camera for the sequel, but did pen the screenplay.

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Bruno Aveillan was announced as Wirkola’s replacement last month - but it seems that before his announcement, some number of other directors were considered for the project. One among these was VFX artist turned director Steven Ilous, who recently shared concept art he worked on for the film at his website (via Comicbook.com).

From this, we see that - when Ilous was in the frame to direct, at least - the working title for the sequel was ‘Hansel and Gretel: Death’s Messengers,’ And it would appear that, as well as their old enemies witches, our heroes will this time also be doing battle with another classic breed of monster: zombies.

There certainly don’t seem to be any hard feelings on Ilous’ part for missing out on the film, as he states he had “a great time” working however briefly on the project, and says “it was a great honor to be considered for this film.”

If this is indeed the title, it’s not a bad choice. ‘Death’s Messengers’ has a nice ring to it. I do have to wonder if it would be a shame to lose the ‘Witch Hunters’ from the title, though; that seems part of the brand name now,

And if ‘Death’s Messengers’ is indeed a zombie movie of sorts, this might go some way to explaining why Wirkola opted not to direct again; having made his name with low budget Nazi zombie splatterfest ‘Dead Snow’ and its 2014 sequel, perhaps he’s all zombied out for now.

While initially deemed a flop after under-performing in the US and meeting a lukewarm critical reception, ‘Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters’ wound up performing handsomely internationally, the $50 million production ultimately making over $226 million at the box office.

No production dates or release dates have yet been announced for the sequel.

See more of the unused concept art at Steven Ilous’ site.

Picture Credit: Paramount/Steven Ilous