Plans for 'Halloween' sequel already afoot, confirms co-writer Danny McBride

Halloween co-writer Danny McBride says “talks” about a sequel to the 2018 horror smash have already begun.

Speaking to Deadline, the filmmaker says he and David Gordon-Green, the film’s co-writer and director, “definitely have ideas of what we would do [for a sequel]”.

“We hadn’t invested a ton of time on them, but now we’re being asked to figure it out,” McBride adds.

“There are definitely talks on whether we will do more of them and we’re just trying to see what best makes sense.”

Halloween, the reboot-sequel to John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 hit, has made around £80 million in just one week at the global box office making it the most successful film in the franchise to date.

If they do make a sequel, they’ll need to think of a clever title as there’s already been TWO films in the franchise titled Halloween II: the 1981 sequel to the original film, and Rob Zombie’s reboot sequel in 2009.

McBride, who rose to fame in HBO’s Eastbound & Down and has since appeared in a number of feature films including Pineapple Express and Alien: Covenant, admits he was never 100% convinced Halloween would connect with audiences.

“I think we did not allow ourselves to really indulge those ideas until the movie came out,” he says.

“We just wanted to put all our hopes and dreams in having this film stick the landing.”

“Now that it’s done, it is also one of those things where David and I are looking at each other and saying, ‘Whew, if that had gone wrong, imagine the public flogging we would have gone through?’ I’m really glad that audiences responded.”

There are now eleven films in Halloween franchise, which follows the sinister escapades of mass murderer Michael Myers, but this latest film asks audiences to forget all the previous sequels and reboots as it acts as a direct sequel to the 1978 original.

Warning… spoilers for 2018’s Halloween incoming

One thing that won’t return (or will he?) is Michael Myers.

The new film ends with Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode definitively killing off Myers in the basement of her fortress home, with help from her daughter (Judy Greer) and granddaughter (Andi Matichak). The sequel will need to be creative as Myers is the centrepiece of the franchise, and a huge part of the iconography.

1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch may provide a clue to future sequels, as it didn’t feature Michael Myers. It was intended to continue the series as an anthology, connecting to the series by taking place on 31 October, Halloween night, which could be one way to go for a sequel.

Another approach McBride and Green might consider is to allow someone else to assume the Michael Myers mantle, Scream-style, putting the mask and overalls on a whole new character and letting them loose on Haddonfield.

It’s going to take a lot to convince Jamie Lee Curtis to return though, as she told Yahoo Halloween may be her “last film”.

Halloween is in cinemas now.

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