Danny McBride, co-writer on the upcoming Halloween Kills, confirms that the sequel will take place on the same night as 2018’s Halloween. The film is the second in a planned trilogy helmed by David Gordon Green. Green‘s Halloween was both a continuation and a “soft reboot” of the Halloween franchise, but it ignored all the previous sequels and served as a direct continuation of the 1978 original. Halloween (2018) was well-received by critics and fans, balancing between honoring the spirit of the original and treading new ground. The film was a box office smash, and sequel talks started happening soon after.
Although John Carpenter‘s 1978 film is considered to be a classic, the Halloween franchise has a convoluted history when it comes to its sequels. Most were done without Carpenter‘s involvement and, with a few exceptions, are generally not as well regarded as the original film. There were so many attempts at course-correction that the twelve-film franchise now contains five different Halloween timelines. When it was announced that Green and McBride‘s reboot/sequel would only be connected to the 1978 original, many fans were intrigued and relieved. The new film could stand on its own without adhering to the lore and baggage of the original Halloween sequels. Judging by the reception to Halloween (2018), that strategy more than paid off.
In an interview with Empire, Danny McBride has revealed that Halloween Kills will take place directly after Halloween (2018). The new Halloween Kills trailer shows Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) still in the back of the truck that they hitched a ride from at the end of Halloween (2018). Given what we see in the trailer, and McBride‘s comment, it’s safe to assume that Halloween Kills will pick up possibly seconds after the end of the previous film.
This shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise to longtime fans of the Halloween franchise. The original Halloween II (1981) also took place directly after the end of Halloween (1978), to the point where, with a little editing, the two films could be strung together as one coherent piece. It served as a good way to keep up the steady pace of the original film and to truly establish Michael Myers as a force that just can’t be stopped. The film managed to keep a very similar tone to Carpenter‘s classic, in part due to the cohesiveness of having both films take place on the same night. Having Halloween Kills take place directly after the previous film could serve a similar purpose.
Part of the success of Halloween (2018) came from McBride and Green‘s willingness to see what worked in the 1978 original and honor it while still bringing the franchise to new places. Halloween (2018) ignored all the films that came after the original, but this news shows that the filmmakers behind the reboot are willing to take a little inspiration from the sequels. It would make sense for them to look toward the other Halloween movies and pull from what those films did best. There is a lot to dig through and plenty of gold to mine in the franchise’s long history. Halloween II (1981) managed to keep the spirit of the first film by taking place directly after it, so it’s no wonder that Green, McBride, and co-writer Chris Teems, would want to do something similar for Halloween Kills.