The Wrong Turn franchise managed to become a cult hit despite all of its sequels being released in direct-to-video format and a draft of the sequel's script was rumored to include original characters from the first movie.

While sometimes regarded as the best entry in the franchise, Wrong Turn 2 definitely takes a lot of what was excellent about the first film, which was released in 2003, and built on it four years later. Director Joe Lynch was attempting to pay homage to '80s sequels with the movie, and incorporated an interesting reality gameshow theme to the plot, which found an entirely new cast of victims in the West Virginia wilderness just waiting to be picked off by members of the same clan of inbred cannibals.

Related: How Wrong Turn Swapped Nudity For Extra Violence

Fan-favorite Henry Rollins took a starring role and carried the film alongside Texas Battle (Final Destination 3) and Erica Leerhsen in a very strong cast that was almost as good as the first. The choice to include Eliza Dushku and Desmond Harrington, even in a minimal capacity, would have been an interesting one, but ultimately, it didn't happen.

Wrong Turn 2 Abandoned Its Tie-In To The Original

Henry Rollins as Dale outside helicopter in Wrong Turn 2

Wrong Turn 2's script was written by Turi Meyer and Al Septien; an original draft was rumored to include the two survivors of the first film, though the capacity of which is unknown. Lynch stated that certain sacrifices had been made to accommodate the $4 million stipend associated with the film. For example, he originally intended to have more cannibals appear, but couldn't because there were already too many characters to service in the film. Money was spent instead on the 300 gallons of fake blood that were reportedly used during production. $4 million is a decent budget by some standards, especially for a direct-to-video effort, but when compared to the original film's $12.6 million, it's a significant drop-off.

It was rumored this change was made when the sequel was announced as a direct-to-video release. Wrong Turn 2 did end up making a brief run in various festivals, such as London's FrightFest and Austin's Fantastic Fest. Dushku had gained notoriety from her tenure on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angeland ended up landing the lead role in Joss Whedon's show, Dollhouse. Harrington was working at the time on Sons & Daughters and Rescue Me

Since its release, Wrong Turn has continued on in four more movies, and has an upcoming seventh installment titled Wrong Turn: The Foundationwhich is slated for release after a six year hiatus. The franchise's last entry, Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort released in 2014.

Update: Per the film's director, Joe Lynch, the original draft of the script was a rumor. Eliza Dushku was briefly considered for a cameo role and Desmond Harrington was not included at all. The concept was discussed in a meeting, but it was decided that neither Jessie nor Chris would elect to venture back into the woods. Dushku's cameo in the film - which was meant to be a meta take on her "real life" character - ended up being reworked into a role that was played by Kimberly Caldwell. This article has been updated and edited to reflect this new information. 

Next: Wrong Turn: What Went TERRIBLY Wrong On Set