Orphan: First Kill director William Brent Bell is actively developing a third chapter in the Orphan franchise. Bell took over the horror franchise from Jaume Collet-Serra who directed the first film Orphan in 2009. Loosely based on the troubling true-crime documentary The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, the film follows the haunting story of a young orphan girl named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman). She’s adopted by a couple who recently experienced a devastating stillbirth with their third child. Upon bringing Esther home, the mother Kate (Vera Farmiga) quickly begins to notice that things with Esther are off, as violent acts seemingly follow her around. Eventually, it’s revealed that Esther isn’t as she appears to be. Rather than an innocent 9-year-old girl, it’s revealed that Esther is, in fact, a 33-year-old violent woman who has a rare hormonal disorder that stunts her physical growth.

The second film was released in 2022 with Bell at the helm. It’s a prequel story that uncovers Esther’s life before being adopted. However, at this point, she’s known as Leena Klammer. Leena is a psychiatric patient who goes on a violent journey that ends with her waiting to be adopted by Kate and her husband John (Peter Sarsgaard). Making the story come full circle. Orphan: First Kill was a major success with the film grossing over $37 million worldwide. It currently holds a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes with an even higher audience score of 77%.

When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the possibility of another Orphan film, Bell announced that “We’re developing a third one now. The franchise’s rulebook has been opened up to where anything is possible. And knowing where we are in the process already, I’m extremely excited about the twists and turns that we have in store.” Bell continued to explain how his take on the prequel film had a “very specific look” as the director “wanted to stay away from what the original film did and do something a little different that leaned into our version of the story.”

Who Stared in the ‘Orphan’ Films?

At just 11 years old, actress Isabelle Fuhrman (The Hunger Games) took on the difficult role of portraying the titular orphan Esther / Leena. When looking back at the role, Fuhrman tells Collider that returning to the role as an adult “rounded out the character.” Because, in the first film she was a child and would research how the surrounding adults held themselves. But this time, Fuhrman is the adult, so she had to reverse her process by looking at how children would hold themselves so that she could “bring this childlike quality” back into the role. It was a challenge indeed, but a welcome one, as Bell didn’t want to do the film without her, sharing that once he decided to take on the project of directing the next Orphan film he knew that he had to find a way to bring Fuhrman back into the fold, noting that she was “specifically amazing as a child.”

Horror queen Farmiga (The Conjuring Universe) and Sarsgaard (The Batman) star in the first film as the couple who initially adopts Esther / Leena, Kate and John. They are joined by CCH Pounder (Avatar) as Sister Abigail, Margo Martindale (The Good Wife) as Dr. Browning, and Karel Roden (Hellboy) as Dr. Värava. The second film brings an entirely new cast to the forefront — aside from Fuhrman of course. The young actress was joined by Julia Stiles (The Lake) as Tricia Albright and Rossif Sutherland portraying Allen Albright. Fun fact, Sutherland is the son of Donald Sutherland who Fuhrman worked with in the first Hunger Games film.

Orphan is available to stream on Max and you can watch Orphan: First Kill on Paramount+. Stay tuned at Collider for further updates on Orphan 3.

via Collider