The bad news is that Happy Death Day 3 was delayed indefinitely following the disappointing box office return of HDD2U in 2019, but the good news is that all involved are dedicated to finding a way to get the threequel off the ground. Producer Jason Blum is dead set on working out a financially viable strategy for it, while director Christopher Landon and star Jessica Rothe remain loyal to the horror-comedy franchise.
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter recently, Rothe again made clear that she’s still ready to play time-looped heroine Tree Gelbman for a third time. However, she’s happy to wait so that the threequel can be as good as possible, as the actress is wary of producing something of lesser quality as she wants to make sure that the closer to the trilogy is truly special.
“It feels very important to both Chris and I that if we do have the opportunity to make a third film and finish the trilogy and finish Tree’s story, we want to do it right. I feel so much love and so much deep protection over her as a character, her as a final girl and her as a role model for young women and people of all ages. So I would never want us to sacrifice her story and her journey just to make it something smaller than it deserves to be.”
Rothe went on to explain that she hasn’t read a full script yet, but she has discussed the general storyline with Landon. Again, she stressed the importance of finding the right tone and approach to concluding the series given how difficult it can be to keep up the quality with sequels.
“Making any kind of follow-up film is always really tricky since you want to make sure it lands the right tone and in the right place. So I’ll be interested to see if we’re lucky enough to find that right place and find the right way to conclude that story.”
Landon has previously revealed that his current working title for HDD3 is Happy Death Day To Us, which reflects how Tree’s friends will be hunted down by the Babyface killer as well this time. Previously, it had been known as Happy Death Day Tree, and when Rothe was asked about the title change by THR, she said that she’ll work on the movie whatever the filmmaker calls it.
“Chris Landon’s brain works in so many brilliant and unpredictable ways, and so I’m sure that title knocked around in his brain for a while. But I would follow him to the ends of the Earth, whether it’s on a Happy Death Day Tree, Happy Death Day To Us or a different project. I just think that he is one of a kind.”
Blum recently suggested that Happy Death Day 3 could have a limited theatrical run but mostly be a straight-to-VOD release, similar to Landon’s upcoming Freaky, which is dropping on November 13th. And if he really has found a way to do it, hopefully we get some good news soon.
