Looks like Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson are through being haunted. Though the duo starred in the ultra-successful horror flick Insidious and its sequel, Insidious: Chapter 3 will bring new blood to the franchise. Today, it was announced that Stefanie Scott, who will also star in Blumhouse’s upcoming Jem and the Holograms and has appeared on the Disney sitcom A.N.T. Farm, is taking on the leading role in the threequel.
Scott is the first star to be announced for this film. No doubt the actress’s work on the aforementioned Jon M. Chu-directed ’80s cartoon adaptation, which is currently in production, is what won her the role. Scott’s other projects have included romantic coming-of-age drama Flipped and sex comedy No Strings Attached.
Plot details are currently being kept under wraps, but it’s presumed that the shadowy demon who menaced the Lamberts in the first and second film will be making an appearance. The ending of Insidious: Chapter 2 also left the door open for return appearances from Specs (Leigh Whannell), Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye). Whannell, who scripted the previous Insidious entries, will be both writing and directing Chapter 3.
Though it might be a bit of a transition for fans of the series to get used to Scott in place of Byrne and Wilson, Scott’s casting is a smart move on Blumhouse’s part. Byrne and Wilson are big stars with burgeoning careers, so their availability to do more Insidious films would likely have been spotty if Whannell kept their characters as the focus. Besides, haven’t the Lamberts had enough punishment at the hands of the evil ghosts from The Further?
It seems that Blumhouse thinks it has found another scream queen in Scott. She certainly has the looks of one, but whether she’ll have the chops to back it up will be something we’ll have to wait to find out. Luckily, it won’t be too long until the spine-chilling franchise returns to theaters. Insidious: Chapter 3 arrives April 3rd, 2015.
