The well-known franchise of Halloween is what it is today, completely by accident and all because of Halloween 2. Even if one isn't necessarily a fan of the horror genre, they know about Halloween. Beginning in 1978, the original Halloween was written and directed by the legendary horror auteur, John Carpenter. Having also scored the movie with the timeless theme, he had his hand in just about every part of the original. When the movie was a commercial and critical success, producer Irwin Yablans pushed for a Halloween sequel, which John Carpenter originally had no intention of doing.
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The Halloween franchise follows infamous serial killer, Michael Myers, also known as The Shape, as he stalks and terrorizes citizens of the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois. One such terrorized citizen is Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), the proverbial final girl that is played by the iconic Scream Queen, who has managed to survive every horrific encounter with Michael Myers and one whom he continues to hunt. Since its inception, 12 films have been released with a thirteenth on the way titled Halloween Ends, the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), which has endured for more than 40 years.
None of this would've been possible, if not for one twist John Carpenter and Debra Hill thought up specifically to finish the script of Halloween 2 and be done with it: that Laurie Strode is Michael Myers' sister. With multiple storylines in the long-running Halloween franchise, it's worth noting that while the story of Laurie Strode isn't the only one, it is the most prominent. The release of Halloween 3: Season of the Witch attempted to reformat the Halloween franchise into an anthology series, but with a less than enthusiastic reception, Michael Myers was brought back in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Jamie Lee Curtis did not reprise her role as Laurie Strode, so from Halloween 4 until Halloween 6, the story followed Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) who is Michael's niece.
How The Halloween 2 Twist Kept The Franchise Going
Upon the conclusion of Jamie's storyline in Halloween 6, the next film to be released in the franchise was Halloween H20: 20 Years Later which featured the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. Once again in the chronology, she continues to survive Michael Myers, and the twist of her being his sister remained from Halloween 2. Although the sibling relationship continued through the return of Jamie Lee Curtis, the new revival trilogy (Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends) has since retconned the blood relationship between Michael and Laurie. Screenwriter Danny McBride chose to do this because he felt that Michael Myers would be scarier if he had no motive for killing people.
For over 40 years, the Halloween franchise has survived multiple timelines, continuities, remakes, and reboots, all of which can be sourced back to the definitive twist in Halloween 2. While not as well received as the original Halloween, the sibling relationship between Michael and Laurie pervaded through nearly every sequel that followed. While it has been written out in the recent Blumhouse trilogy, it is still mentioned and referenced as something the people of Haddonfield made up.