At long last, Hayden Panettiere (the Scream franchise) is returning to horror courtesy of Brandon Auman’s (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) upcoming project, Sleepwalker. Today, as part of Collider’s Exclusive Preview event, we’ve got a first-look image from the thriller that puts Panettiere back in the driver’s seat in a new terrifying tale fit for one of our favorite modern Scream Queens. With supporting performances from Justin Chatwin (War of the Worlds), Beverly D’Angelo (National Lampoon’s Vacation), Mischa Barton (The Sixth Sense), and more, the movie is shaping up to be the perfect scarefest that will keep audiences on pins and needles when it arrives in select cinemas and on demand in early January.
With Beverly D’Angelo’s Gloria by her side, Panettiere’s leading character, Sarah, pulls her child closer to her in our exclusive image from Sleepwalker. The women are dressed for cold weather and appear to be engaged in a serious conversation, but the person they’re conversing with is just off camera and out of sight.
The plot centers around the Nashville alum’s Sarah, a talented artist who is still reeling from the tragic death of her daughter in a car accident that also put her abusive husband in a coma. Amidst all the chaos and heavy emotions during her waking hours, Sarah begins to experience intense bouts of sleepwalking that slowly but surely put her on a track into darkness. Things only get worse after she experiences visions that place her husband back in their home as she struggles to identify reality from her nightmarish dreams.
The Team Behind ‘Sleepwalker’
In addition to the primary set of stars we mentioned above, Lori Tan Chinn (Orange Is the New Black), Laird Lacoste, and Corinne Sweeney establish the rest of the cast behind Sleepwalker. Set for distribution in the U.S. under Brainstorm Media, the title is backed by Verdi Productions and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way. Specific producers attached to the haunting thriller include Chad A. Verdi, Jennifer Davisson, Philip Watson, Michelle Verdi, Chad Verdi Jr., and Paul Luba.
The last time we saw Panettiere was in the survival thriller, A Breed Apart, with the project prior seeing her appear opposite Abbott Elementary star, Tyler James Williams, in Amber Alert. With a knack for genre flicks, Panettiere finally rejoined the Scream franchise in the sixth installment back in 2023, reprising her role from Scream 4. Although she’s not been confirmed to be part of the upcoming Kevin Williamson-helmed Scream 7, we certainly hope to see Panettiere’s fan-favorite character, Kirby Reed, back on the case.
via Collider