Halloween Ends will differ from its predecessor in a key way, says director David Gordon Green. Green directed the first installment in the franchise reboot, 2018's Halloween, which came after John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic, also titled Halloween. Jamie Lee Curtis reprises her role as Laurie Strode in the modern Halloween franchise after her memorable part in the original film. The rebooted series of slasher films starring Michael Myers features Curtis in the lead as the serial killer's vengeful would-be victim.
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Brutal horror villain Michael Myers was as iconic within pop culture in 1978 as he is today. After the success of the 2018 reboot, Green, Curtis, and the rest of the Strode family (Laurie's daughter, played by Judy Greer, and granddaughter, played by Andi Matichak) returned in 2021's Halloween Kills. A huge hit at the box office, the true-to-its-name sequel featured plenty of barbaric slayings by Myers and ended with him still at large and Laurie suffering a tragic loss. After such a memorable finale, the pressure is on for the final film to provide a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Green previously mentioned that he is still tinkering with Halloween Ends' ending, indicating his investment in creating the perfect send-off for Strode and Myers.
In an interview with Empire for the magazine's Glass Onion issue, Green shared a brief tease for the film's ending. After two major box office successes and decades of franchise fans to satiate, the horror director is taking a surprising direction with the end of his Halloween trilogy. Check out Green's statement on the final film below:
If our second film was free-for-all, violent chaos, this is a more intimate, atmospheric conclusion.
While Green's comments indicate a more muted approach to Halloween Ends, the teasers and images that have dropped for the film tease plenty of the bloody killings unique to Michael Myers. His mention of the film being "more intimate" possibly teases a final face-off between Strode and Myers that will bring the franchise back to the violence that started it all. Green's words are likely a relief to fans who felt that Halloween Kills went too far into the realm of the supernatural by having Myers survive from injuries no mere mortal could sustain. With the director promising to rein in the chaos for Halloween Ends, it seems that viewers can expect a more grounded finale for the trilogy.
Halloween Ends may be coming up next month, but the film only marks the end of the trilogy, but likely not the franchise as a whole. Carpenter has spoken vaguely about a future for the Halloween franchise, hinging on the box office for the next installment. Based on the performance of the previous two films in the trilogy, it's likely that the numbers for the threequel will deliver despite the historically low box office showings this fall. However, Halloween Ends' simultaneous streaming release on Peacock may hurt those figures, so whether the Halloween franchise really ends in October remains to be seen.