Split Star Didn’t Know It Was A Sequel To Unbreakable While Filming

One of the best movie twists of 2017 came from M. Night Shyamalan’s Split. While it was mostly a return to form for the director anyway, it ended on a mind-blowing cameo from Bruce Willis, revealing the film to be a secret sequel to 2000’s superhero drama Unbreakable. Fans knew nothing about the surprise connection beforehand and, as it turns out, neither did some of the stars of the movie.

Anya Taylor-Joy, who played heroine Casey, revealed to Entertainment Weekly that she had no idea about Bruce Willis’ role in the film until she went with the director to a screening, saying:

“Night asked me to go to one of those tester screenings in Arizona. I went with him, and the ending wasn’t part of that, but, as we were outside ready to go into the screening, [he] told me about it [and Glass]. I completely lost it.”

As the actress mentions, Split is being followed by Glass, the third movie in the series which will see Willis’ David Dunn face off against James McAvoy’s the Horde. The film gets its name from Samuel L. Jackson’s Mr. Glass, Dunn’s original nemesis from Unbreakable, who’s also due to return. 

Taylor-Joy has a role in the pic, too, something she was amazed to find out when she learned about the existence of the movie. Further in her interview with EW, she told them:

“I thought, man, that’s so cool, like, ‘You have to let me know how shooting goes!’ He just looked at me and said, ‘What makes you think you’re not coming along for the ride?’ I completely died. I was like, ‘Wait, really? You want me to come and do this with you?’ I was so excited to reprise my character, because I love Casey so much, and to be able to do it with all these unbelievable actors. I was at a table with all of these incredible people. I just thought, what the hell am I doing here?”

It’s interesting to know the extreme lengths Shyamalan goes to in order to keep the surprise endings of his movies a secret, even withholding the details from his lead actress – despite the fact that it sets up a sequel that she’ll star in. It’s unclear whether McAvoy was also kept in the dark about Bruce Willis’ cameo in Split as well, but we imagine he was told about it. After all, Glass kind of relied on him being free to do a follow-up.

Speaking of which, M. Night Shyamalan will bring Glass to theaters next year, on January 18th.