David Gordon Green’s forthcoming slasher film Halloween Kills is set to continue the story of Laurie Strode, the former sister of Michael Myers and sole survivor of his initial spree of killings in Haddonfield, Illinois. Laurie’s genealogical relationship to Michael was revealed in Rick Rosenthal’s 1981 sequel Halloween II, a movie that was retconned away and replaced by Green’s 2018 film Halloween, which was itself both a direct legacy sequel to the 1978 Compass International classic as well as the opening installment of a new Halloween trilogy by Blumhouse Productions, who acquired the rights to the franchise after Dimension Films let them lapse following Rob Zombie’s 2009 sequel to his 2007 reboot.
Discussing the project on the Fantasm podcast, co-star Anthony Michael Hall assured hosts Corey Gorechrist and Dr. Vincent West that “fans are going to really like this film. It’s really intense. It’s really good.” Hall plays Tommy Doyle, a character previously portrayed by Brian Andrews as a child in John Carpenter’s 1978 original, and later by Paul Rudd as a 20-something in Daniel Farrands’ now non-canonical 1995 sequel Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Rudd was reportedly “really excited that [Hall was] playing the part,” which Hall learned through his director after the Ant-Man star called to send his best and give the former Breakfaster Club actor his blessings.
Hall’s assessment echoes that of Robert Longstreet, who told Bloody Flicks that the new film “might be the nastiest of all of them. It has some terrifying scenes in it.” Longstreet plays the adult version of Lonnie Elam, a character formerly portrayed as a child in the original by Brent Le Page, and has aged into “a complicated, troubled guy who is haunted by his past. Particularly chickening out on going into Michael Myers’ house when he was a kid,” which, Longstreet explains, “broke something in him that f*cks with his manhood.”
While Lonnie didn’t appear in 2018’s Halloween, the character’s son, Cameron, was featured as the boyfriend of Laurie Strode’s granddaughter, Allyson Nelson, and will appear again in this year’s installment. Longtime Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards is also set to reprise her role as Lindsey Wallace, the third of the children that Laurie babysat as a teenager and the only character to be portrayed by the original performer.
Halloween Kills is scheduled to debut on October 16th before the trilogy culminates in next year’s Halloween Ends on October 15th, 2021.