Zach Cregger’s horror darling Weapons has just hit the silver screen, but Warner Bros. is already hungry for more. According to The Hollywood Reporter, talks are underway for a prequel project focusing on Aunt Gladys, the eccentric aunt who suddenly arrives in town, though no deals have been finalised yet.
The late-arrival character is portrayed by Amy Madigan (Roe vs. Wade), joining an ensemble cast that includes Julia Garner (Ozark), John Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War), Benedict Wong (3 Body Problem), Austin Abrams (The Walking Dead), Alden Ehrenreich (Blue Jasmine), and Cary Christopher (Day of Our Lives). While it’s unclear what narrative ideas the project may entail, an early development of Glady’s origins comes as a possibility, as shared in an interview with iO9:
“In an earlier draft of the script I had given her her own chapter. It was a little bit of an origin before she came to town. But I realised that it was just giving too much away. It’s more compelling to not know some of these things. So I ended up cutting it very early on in the writing process.”
It would have been a good fit for the multi-perspective presentation of Weapons, which earned a global opening haul of US$70 million, with the US$42.5 million domestic gross exceeding pre-release projections by over US$10 million. It follows a teacher whose students mysteriously vanish in the middle of the night, and a grieving father who suspects her involvement, as summarised in the liner on its official poster: “Last night at 2:17 am, every child from Mrs. Gandy’s class woke up, got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the front door, walked into the dark, and they never came back.”
In the meantime, the Barbarian helmer will be busy with Henchman, an original movie for DC Studios, the already-written sci-fi script Flood, and a new Resident Evil movie that won’t completely follow the game’s lore, slated for release on 18 September 2026.
“It’s just a different story. I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that,” explained Cregger on his decision.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Ting Wei
