Movies
‘Orphan 3’? Director William Brent Bell Discusses the Possibility of More Esther Stories [Exclusive]
William Brent Bell‘s Orphan: First Kill, now playing in select theaters and streaming on Paramount+, is a follow-up we never expected to see, bringing back Isabelle Fuhrman for a prequel to the 2009 movie. Clever production techniques allow for Fuhrman to once again play Esther, a murderous 30-year-old who at first glance appears to be an innocent young girl.
First Kill travels back in time rather than moving the franchise forward, which probably has a little something to do with Esther being killed off at the end of the 2009 movie. But if we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that horror villains are never truly dead. So is it possible that we’ll someday get a proper Orphan sequel? Or could more prequels be on the way?
Speaking with Bloody Disgusting’s The Boo Crew Podcast, First Kill director William Brent Bell discussed the potential for more Esther stories down the road. Of course, it all depends on how well First Kill is received, both financially and critically, but would Brent Bell return to the world of Esther if given the chance? And what would it take to bring him back for Orphan 3?
For starters, he would only make another one if Isabelle Fuhrman came back.
“I would never do it if Isabelle didn’t do it,” William Brent Bell tells The Boo Crew. “And it would also have to be a really cool script.”
“We talked… we joked about everything,” Brent Bell continues. “There’s 30 years of her life [that we haven’t explored]. And there’s so much life experience that we can play with. And I think because of the tone of this movie, we can go darker and lighter. Make her more in-charge, and evil, but also have even more fun at times. So of course there is [potential there].”
What about a direct sequel to the first Orphan? Esther drowns in a lake at the end of the 2009 movie, but Brent Bell notes during his chat with The Boo Crew that undoing that conclusion for the character would be easy. Should the studio want to go in that direction, the third film could kick off with Esther’s hand “coming up out of the water at the beginning of the movie.”
Brent Bell even jokes with The Boo Crew about a future sequel centered on “Esther in space,” using it as a humorous example of a line he’s not willing to cross with the franchise.
You can listen to The Boo Crew’s full chat with William Brent Bell below.
Movies
’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).
The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.
No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.
28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.
Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.
The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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