Halloween Ends is the final entry in the Halloween reboot trilogy, but is it also the last movie in the franchise? Back in 1978, John Carpenter brought Halloween, a slasher movie that helped popularize this genre in the 1980s and introduced the audience to serial killer Michael Myers and final girl Laurie Strode. Halloween made way for a franchise with a total of 13 movies, though these brought different retcons that created different timelines, and in 2018, a reboot timeline began with David Gordon Green’s Halloween, a direct continuation to Carpenter’s original movie which ignores all movies that came after it.
Halloween saw Michael Myers escape from Smith’s Grove Psychiatric Hospital after being there for four decades and returning to Haddonfield right on time for Halloween night in 2018. Michael Myers crossed paths with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) one more time after she had been preparing for decades for his return, but unfortunately, Laurie’s daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) also had to fight Michael. The sequel, Halloween Kills, begins where the previous movie ended and continued following Michael’s killing spree, but the third movie, Halloween Ends, is doing things differently by taking a time jump of four years. As the title suggests, Halloween Ends will mark the end of Laurie and Michael’s story, but is that also the end of the Halloween franchise?
Halloween Ends Is Concluding David Gordon Green's Trilogy
As mentioned above, the Halloween franchise has different timelines which have taken different routes, and some of them don’t even include Laurie anymore as she died after the events of Halloween II. David Gordon Green’s trilogy arrived to put some order to the Halloween franchise by continuing the events of the original movie and getting rid of some of the most controversial elements of the past movies, such as Laurie and Michael being siblings, Laurie faking her death, and Michael being part of a cult. In the reboot trilogy, Laurie and Michael are not related, Laurie has been struggling with PTSD, trauma, and addiction since her first encounter with Michael, had a daughter and granddaughter, and prepared for Michael’s eventual return. Halloween Ends, then, marks the end of Gordon Green’s trilogy and has been marketed as the end of the story of Laurie and Michael as well, but it might not be the final movie in the Halloween franchise.
What The Cast & Crew Have Said About Halloween's Future
The future of the Halloween franchise after Halloween Ends is unknown, and the cast and crew have given contradicting comments about it. Jamie Lee Curtis has said that Halloween Ends will most likely be her last time playing Laurie Strode, thus confirming that this movie will see the conclusion of Laurie’s story, but others believe that the franchise still has more to offer after Halloween Ends. John Carpenter himself has said that, if Halloween Ends performs well, there could be more Halloween movies as “the movie business is ruled by money”, though he has also mentioned that Gordon Green plans to “shut it off, end it” with this movie. On the other hand, producer Jason Blum confirmed that there are no plans for more movies after Halloween Ends due to them having a three-picture deal, and he later confirmed that the rights will go back to Malek Akkad after Halloween Ends, so this is Blumhouse’s final Halloween movie.
How The Franchise Can Continue After Halloween Ends
If Halloween Ends is just the ending of Gordon Green’s trilogy and Laurie and Michael’s story, and those in control of the story and characters decide to continue with more movies, there are a couple of ways in which they can do so. The horror genre has been embracing the trend of reboots and requels, and studios always find a way to continue expanding some of their most successful franchises, so the same could happen to the Halloween series. Michael Myers could go through another reboot after Halloween Ends or the franchise could opt for spinoffs that could expand on the stories of some characters, including Michael himself as there are still many unanswered questions about his life. What’s for sure is that Halloween Ends will be the final showdown between Laurie and Michael, though whether that means the death of both or not is to be seen, and depending on how the story ends and how well it performs, there could be more stories from the Halloween franchise in a not-so-distant future.
